Albania's media: End of patriotic tourism, Kosovo Albanians abandon Durres this season

On the “Independence Route”, which runs the Durres Beach for nearly 4km, Kosovo Albanians are no longer permanent tourists. The road got its name after Kosovo's 2008 declaration of Independence and is known today for its numerous hotels and establishments in parallel lines with the Adriatic Sea.

The “used to all come on vacation in Durres, and a portion also met the patient family who received them in the difficult year 1999. It was then called patriotic tourism,” recalls Chen Hysniu, the owner of one of the local establishments.

Tourists from Kosovo were loyal vacationers of Durres Beach for nearly two decades, but during this season, hotel owners and tourism experts observe a visible wrinkle of their number. The reasons according to them relate to strengthening the local currency against the money, the possibility of free movement for Kosovo citizens, and the selection of the beaches of Shengjin and Velipoja due to shorter distances.

Mark Gjana, manager of a hotel on Durres Beach, told BIRN that although the season has not yet started fully, there are fewer bookings from Kosovo and North Macedonia Albanians. He estimates that in addition to rising prices in tourist facilities, this trend also greatly affects the decline of the euro.

The European currency used by Kosovars is worth less and less in Albania, and there are few who look to the beaches of Bulgaria or Greece, countries that use the euro, like Kosovo,”, Gjana stressed.

Kosovars will not be the only lack of this season. After several years of high attendance, Italian vacationers have chosen other options this summer.

Tourism expert Edmond Baso says the declining number of Kosovars on holiday, this summer even increased families or small groups from Italy, very present in the past few years.

The largest foreign party resting in Durres comes with large groups, mainly from Poland and Chechia, but there is no shortage of Norwegians,” Baso told BIRN.

“According to the data we have, Italians have returned to their beaches in southern Italy,”, he added.

Kosovo tourists' bookings for this summer also confirm Stefan Mann, who manages a hotel on the coast, Reporter.al reports. Periscope.

“This summer we have almost no guests from Kosovo or Macedonia,” he said.

But he adds that unlike years ago, there are now more tourists from Balkan countries and Central Europe.

“We have begun to reach seven-day-standing groups, coming from Bosnia, Ukraine, or Poland,” said Mann, who complains that the land issue for private beaches has not yet been solved.

According to the hotel manager, larger sand spaces have occupied bars and restaurants in the coastal mall, though according to municipal regulations it should be the opposite.

Last year's inaugurated resort has been well received by vacationers. But their concern is related to the deployment of several barracks-kioska, which are installed in the sand section of bars and restaurants near the mall.

Besides narrowing sand spaces for vacationers, they risk returning to the locale with walls and concrete structures,”, Mani concluded. /Periscope