Illusion of tourist wonder in Albania, myth of propaganda and fact reality

The only subject that brings about the rage of the SPAK investigation today is the countless news for “the miracle”, where, according to the government, we have received a total of 10.1 million tourists last year. However, our economy seems unaware of this “blessing” tourist. Instead of experiencing an economic boom due to this momentum, official data exposes government propaganda, demonstrating an economy that is barely moving. Apparently, we're unfortunate and we're “the sly ones that are visiting us are mysterious tourists who are skilled in the art of travel without any trace in our economy. When we try to find the economic impact of these millions of tourists, with whom the government boasts around the world, it is like looking for water in the wilderness - there is no significant sign of their influence. Instead of bringing prosperity, these millions of invisible tourists seem to have chosen not to spend anything or even sleep at all. Let's dive into this absurd comedy and find out where the truth lies behind this imaginary tourist boom, doing a research analysis.

In rigorous scientific research, we use triangulation, which means using methods, data sources or various theories to test the reliability or validity of results. Like a group of detectives doing their investigations from different angles to solve a mystery, triangulation uses different methods and resources to prove a topic. In our case, to examine and confirm whether our country really had 10.1 million foreign tourists, it would be good to look at alternative data such as the consequences caused in our economy, our numbers of sleep, our capacities to host all this large number, as well as the countries of origin from which they come to distinguish the real tourists coming to Albania to explore and be fired by our countrymen who have foreign citizenship and return to the family Bay. When it comes to rapid tourism development and millions of foreign tourists, your mind immediately goes to the prosperous economic impact that would have to follow. But there INSTAT puts it out, noting that this magic of Albanian tourism has left no significant traces in the economy. According to INSTAT, for 2023, the country's economic growth was only 3.44%, so much smaller than the previous 2022 year, when we had an increase of 4.84%. Here, it is good to analyze that according to INSTAT, the number of foreign citizens entering Albania during 2022 is 7.5 million, increasing by 32.6%, compared to 2021, while in 2023 it reached 10.1 million or 34% more from the previous year. Prime Minister Rama proposed triumphantly in 2022 that that that year tourism represented 17% of the Bruto Interior Production by 4% prior to the rotation. So if we hypothetically estimate this growth of 34% of tourism in 2023 (and if we get all the other unchanged data) it would have to make GDP growth from tourism “exploded” go 5.78% (17% x 034)

But we've actually had a modest growth of only 3.4%, and it's largely due to increased construction fluids. This means that the increased millions of foreign visitors have likely seen border police and sportsmen of “Kastrat” at the airport or the train of the nation's highway, because waitresses, vendors and hotel receptioners have seen nothing.

Still following the analysis of the economic consequences, with the logic “where there's smoke there's fire “, it is expected that the massive increase of several million tourists will increase consumption in the country, that the end not all foreign visitors come with “in their own”. But the alleged mass arrival of foreign tourists turns out to have no high effect on final consumption. According to INSTAT data, in 2023, population consumption rose dim by only 2.96% (from the previous 7.37% increase in previous year), marking the lowest levels since the pandemic. Also, during the past year, BIRN pointed out that paradoxically, as the number of foreign visitors increased, there was a significant decline in electricity consumption. Worldwide, increasing millions of tourists would have to increase millions of kilowatters spent in the country for air conditioning, washing, cooking, and so forth.

Following the approach of triangulation, we see another fact that puts out state propaganda naked and that's the ratio between the number of foreign tourists allegedly introduced to Albania and the number of sleeps. Only 6 million sleeps have been introduced in Albania. It seems that our tourists prefer to sleep in the open sky by counting the stars, unlike those who go to Montenegro and Croatia, which seem to need a bed. State statistical respect institutions show that in Montenegro, in 2023, there were 2.6 million arrivals from abroad and 16.3 million netration (6.2 nights per visitor) while in Croatia there were 20.6 million visitors and 108 million nettre (5.2 million nights per visitor). This best testifies that most of those reported with foreign citizenship who entered Albania either slept in their homes because they are local or have passed a transitor through our country within the day without stopping to sleep.

To understand the farce of 10.1 million tourists, we need to look at Albania's accommodation capacities. According to INSTAT throughout the country, there have been 1580 accommodation facilities (hotels, motels, camps, hotels, mountain shelters and other facilities for short term stays) that make about 48 thousand rooms and about 109 beds available. The <x0->AirBnb” platform does not bring any large offer and makes no difference because according to “data He r The DNA”, in Albania, has 15512 stored properties that generated around 53.8 million USD laps in 2023.

Croatia last year had 438 thousand rooms available for tourists with a total of 1.2 million permanent beds. So, formally there are 10 times more beds to wait only twice as many tourists as Albania. The fruitage of government figures also shows the case of Antalya, which is so popular for Albanian travellers. Last year this 600km Mediterranean region reached its record, hosting 15.5 million tourists (50% more than Albania's figure), while having a capacity of 640 thousand beds (6 times more than Albania), among which 400,000 are in hotels with 5 stars. In short, as if most of the 10.1 million foreign citizens who have crossed the border for Albania in the foreign year were not fellow countrymen returning to their homes or transiting through our territory, but to be literal tourists who want to rest several days with us, we wouldn't actually have the capacity to accommodate these huge numbers.

Furthermore, analysis of the countries of origin of “foreign tourismists” explains it even better than the real Albanian tourist boom. Just as studying rightly points out UNDP, titled “Tourism and Hospitality in Albania 2022: An assessment of the trends and performance of tourism”, more than 70% of those “foreigners often introduced in Albania are Albanian countrymen, or from the region (Kosovo, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro and Presevo Valley in Serbia) or from the exiles (Italia, Greece, the US, UK, Germany etc.). Official data from the Ministry of Tourism and Environment concerning tourism statistics shows that around 4.4 million Kosovo citizens have entered our country last year. This figure clearly shows not only the dominance of patriotic tourism and ownership of property in Albania by Kosovars (who visit them regularly on weekends), but also for a large number of Kosovars travelling through Albania to travel to the West, whether they come for Montenegro or Italy by ferry, or using numerous low-priced airlines from Rinas.

The same could be said for a large part of the 745 776 citizens of Northern Macedonia, 101 949 citizens of Serbia, or 636 962 of Montenegro who have reportedly entered last year. For Montenegro, a certain difference must be made that there are not necessarily Albanians, but also other nationalities of this state that come for two other reasons. First, to take advantage of the Rinas' free lines (Last Rinas is only 140km from Podgorica), but secondly, the number of Montenegrins coming and leaving for Shkodra and suburbs within Sunday, since by law in their country all departments and shops are closed on Sundays.

Also, when the other countries of origin are viewed, it is still clear that, according to all likelihood, our Albanian countrymen who have European countries' citizenship. Its first plan is Italy with 950 955 arrivals, while according to I Italian STAT, the number of Albanians who have received Italian citizenship in three decades of migration is 230 thousand (most likely even greater if their children who were born in Italy and are of dual citizenship) were added. I believe the same analysis of visitors' nationality applies to 667 565 Greek citizens who reportedly entered Albania in 2023. With the same logic, they can identify themselves as the Albanian diaspora of origin from Kosovo and other former Yugoslav republics even to hundreds of thousands of entrys into Albania's territory by the citizens of Germany, Switzerland or the states of Scandinaviania.

I believe that the main contributor to the number of entry of foreign citizens to Albania is increasing the youth air connections through low-cost companies such as “Wizair”, “Ryanair”, “Europes” or “Transavia”, which have brought the number of passengers to 7.2 million. Rinas today has an average of 94 flights per day to 91 non-stop destinations in 25 countries, while in 2019 there were only 36 destinations and 3.8 million passengers. If we imagine an Albanian with foreign citizenship from Ulcini, Prizren or Struga, who has seized a free round-of-the-way ticket from Rinas, it should be taken into account that in our government border estimates, it results twice in the tourist registry for each trip. Once after crossing the border to enter Albania and another one in Rinas after flying back. Thanks to the large number of cheap line destinations, there are even a growing number of foreign transport travelers coming to us all by the way, because they have Rinas as temporary intermediate stop combined with a flight to another final flight destination <x8low-cost”.

The second factor in adding the entrances is somewhat related to the first one, and it certainly has to do with the alarming size and size our immigration has received. According to Eurostat, there have been 604 thousand citizens of Albania (two% of the official population we have today) who are equipped with the passport of a European Union state. In 2022 alone, 50,000 citizens of Albania received citizenship in an EU country, ranking third in Europe, after Moroccans and Syrians ( Italy granted 75.8 % of its citizenship, Greece 19.2%, Sweden 1.2%, etc.). The reduction in transportation costs thanks to cheap flights, but thanks to improved quality of roads, it has caused them to come more frequently to meet their surviving relatives. Without wanting to sound nihilist, I have to admit that the facts are stubborn and that the gradual increase in the number of foreign vacationers has occurred, but the growth is pale and far away from that massive miracle that has been completely pompous of government and interest groups around it. Thus, the real growth of visitors coming to rest or explore the country has very great distance from glorious scenery that tries to paint the painter's prime minister. Beyond co-nationals from the ethnic trunk and diaspora, which occupy the vast majority of foreign citizens coming in, Albania may be said to have experienced a steady increase in tourists from Eastern Europe, such as Poland, Chechia and Ukraine. It has recently begun with citizens from other high-income European countries, such as Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and so on. This is not a few million increase, but hundreds of thousands.

Finally, this subject certainly deserves further deepening and cannot be exhausted with a single, though long, article. What's worthy of emphasis on closing is that this government has the most interest to pump the idea of “champion” tourism, as an achievement of its own, especially now that we are entering an electoral year. She is interested in feeding the fairy tale of “to tourism” and to supply the construction sector, which brings not only taxes for the state but also constitutes a good source of bribes as well as a favourable destination for cleaning up crime and corruption money. This “successful” also needs to hide failures in all sectors of the economy and public services, mass abandoning of the country and countless scandals. This government propaganda effort has been even more emplified by Albania's media, which is largely owned by builders. The latter are naturally interested in decomposing this illusion of Albania's tourist momentum because they sell more apartments.