Only Durres occupy hotel capacity over 90%, weak on the Himara coast

In the hotel sports room “Elba”, near the Cavaja Rock, a young couple is making a new blitz. The employee explains that all meals and drinks are involved. When asked if there are empty rooms, the entrepreneur claims that they can even find them, but the hotel is generally busy. The price for one person is 65 euros a day with all the meals involved (all incilusive) and unlimited drinks throughout the day, parking and umbrellas. “We are family business”, she says, if she stays on top of the job and holds good prices there is no reason to complain.

Furthermore, at Hotel “Arberia”, the waiter says there is no room available. Even at the hotel “Andi”, where the room for two people costs 65 euros a morning, there is no free spot.

Prices along the mall's restaurants have not changed much compared to last year, or have marked a slight increase of $50m per plate. One pizza costs $300-700, 250-dollar salads, meat and fish dishes start at 800-900, risotto out of $500.

Even in the most luxurious hotels, there are still no seats. “Dolce Vita” is packed with tourists waiting in line. The sports officer says there's no room available right now. The price is 80 euros in overnight rooms for two people, with breakfast involved.

It's dinnertime, and the hotel room “Bonita”, which in recent years has significantly expanded capacity, is full of tourists performing self-incarnation. In the sports room they say there are no empty rooms at the moment, but they can be released in a few days. The price is 80 euros per day, with four meals involved and unlimited drinks. Cars from all over Europe prevail in the courtyard, but plates from Kosovo, Northern Macedonia and Serbia dominate. There's a lot of Poles, they tell you at the sports room, coming in with the charter.

Rhetman Kasa, chairman of the Albanian Tourist Union, says that from their estimates for late July and early August, the Durres-Golem coast is the only one with more vacationers in the accommodation facilities compared to last year. “As the capacity to use hotels and beaches, besides Durres, others are worse than last year”.

He says the Durres Coast- Kavaje has a capacity increase of over 90%.

After Durres, Velipo is better off, with 90%.

Sarandes Coast is over 70%; Vlora Coast 75-80%

Least, according to him, this year is presented the Himara coast, which has a capacity burden of 55-60%.

The bad results and the Saintyini this year, where Casa says capacity seizure is 70-75%.

The new model of tourism development in the coastal city of Durres, which was actually the first to be hit by mass concrete, now appears to have found its way to success.

In recent years, construction of hotels with standard and capacity -- all involved -- following increased demand and shopping from foreign tourist agencies, turning front-line palaces into managed hotels or apartments, competitive prices, coastal spaces and malls -- has brought added value to the area and has influenced employment growth. In contrast, the government has failed to support this development even with the construction of a minimum infrastructure, which has not yet been completed in many years, writes Monitor.al.

Foreigners are holding up tourism this year

By June, the latest available INSTAT data, the entry of foreign citizens was 16% more for the 6 months than the same period of 2019 and 40% more in June alone.

It appears that it is the foreigners who are keeping tourism on their feet this year, and mainly on the coast of Durres and that of Vlora and Saranda, while local vacationers are on the decline. This for several reasons:

-First, last year many countries had restrictions on travel, which led many vacationers to choose Albania. Many of them have already fled abroad, promoted and from cheaper airline tickets. Turkey remains a favourite country, but also the states of Europe, such as Portugal, Spain, or even Greece and Italy, which are annual destinations.

-Secondly, immigration is affecting every aspect of the country's economy, as the youth's departure has decreased and the influx of tourists to the South Zone, which was preferred to this age group. Operators say nightlife is also weak this year.

- Thirdly, high prices and the perception of quality-priced ratios have led many vacationers to quietly turn down the coast of the area of Himara and Drermi, which is resulting in this season with lower hotel capacity. The maximum prices in these areas amount to 350 euros in rooms/night, up from 280 euros last year.

Price loss is another factor that has negatively affected. In July, inflation reached 7.5% higher in 20 years, with a major impact on the price of food and fuel. Tourist operators claim that vacation time has been cut to 4-5 days, from a week that was normal earlier, while last days' travel has been reduced. This is confirmed indirectly and by fuel consumption, which in July and August is resulting in lower than last year, according to data from the Hydrocarbon Association.