The Municipality of Pustec / The Mayor unveils the plan for tourism to CNA

2024-03-30 15:08:00, Aktualitet CNA

The municipality of Pustec is the smallest municipality in the southeastern region, with quite beautiful touristic and cultural attractions. CNA has from time to time brought to attention various objects of value in this area, as well as some of the places that can be visited. In this report, the focus is exactly tourism and its further development. Foreign tourists are the ones who have visited the area more often, causing an increase in the number of visitors, and this is accepted by the mayor of this municipality, Pali Kolefski. In an interview for Cna TV, Kolefski showed a series of steps that will be followed this year to turn Pustec and the surrounding villages into tourist destinations. Initially, the mayor says that they have made plans to deal with any kind of situation related to cleanliness in the area, as well as held a meeting with businesses to discuss their further development.

"We hope and have full confidence that it will be a successful season, like everywhere in Albania. We are seeing a great interest of foreign tourists visiting Prespa, despite the fact that we are not yet officially in season. We have made the plans ours to cope with any kind of situation, with the services offered by the municipality, related to cleanliness and other things they requested. Not more than 10 days ago, I had a meeting with the businesses that operate in the field of tourism in Pustec, which they had some very normal requests and we will try to fulfill them in order to facilitate their work. It is understood that the infrastructure will have to be improved, which we are dealing with and have applied in many projects," he said.

The high increase in the number of tourists was precisely in 2023, being considered a very successful year. Foreign tourists who stayed 1 day in Pustec visiting all the attractions it offers, but also others who stayed a few days with caravans in the beautiful nature of the area. According to Mayor Kolefski, the island of Maligrad remains one of the most sought-after and favorite destinations for visitors.

"The year 2023 has been a very successful year, because after the pandemic of 2020 there was a decrease in tourists. 2023 there was a very large increase in the flow of tourists. The type of tourists who visited the municipality of Pustec were those who came daily , or for more days staying in caravans and visiting various objects. The island of Maligrad has been a destination, as well as hermit churches. Also, the museum built in Gollomboç has been visited. There have also been visits to the village of Kallamas, where people love to see the hermit churches of that part," he said.

The cooperation of the municipality of Pustec with the municipality of Prespa in the Greek part, as well as with the Directorate of Cultural Monuments and partners on the other side of the border, seems to be going well in their focus on the development of tourism and the improvement of infrastructure. Kolefski shows some of the most important points he wants to accomplish this year, in order to make accessible every object and area worth visiting in Pustec. Churches play a major role in the history of this area, as this municipality has a Byzantine church located on the border with the Republic of North Macedonia, but also many other churches.

"I will mention those projects that focus on tourism and the improvement of tourism-related infrastructure. Pustec Municipality has cooperated with the Municipality of Prespa in the Greek part, related to the cross-border program IPA, where our municipality will be a partner together with the Directorate of Cultural Monuments, as well as with our partners on the other side of the border. We also thought that we should try to make the objects visitable, since it is not only the island and the churches. Cultural monuments have their own part in the restoration of the objects religious places that are within these, and the municipality will apply for the equipment of these facilities with moles that serve for the access of tourists there. We also applied for the rehabilitation of the roads, the call consisted of connecting the main road to the residential centers. We have solved the part of Kallamas, connecting the application of the Directorate of Cultural Monuments that concerns the restoration of the Byzantine church located on the border with the RMV, as well as the church located in the center of the village of Kallamas, he stated.

Years ago, the supply of drinking water was one of the biggest problems that the residents of Pustec and the villages of this municipality suffered. Fortunately, this was resolved by the municipality and the Water and Sewerage Directorate of Korça. While for this year, the cooperation of these two institutions will focus on the sewage network, so that there is no pollution of Lake Prespa.

"We have also cooperated with the Directorate of Water and Sewerage of Korcce, which has applied for a project for the benefit of Prespa e Maghe and Prespa e Vegël, which are related to the purification of wastewater. Here we have two villages Pustecin and Zaroshka, which have a functional sewage network, but more the project consists in the equipment of the other part that does not access this network, and the final part for cleaning according to EU standards, so that the waters do not pollute Lake Prespa", he said.

Pali Kolefski gives good news through this interview, showing that he expects to start the implementation of the strategic project, which will improve all roads, such as Zaroshka, Lajthiza, Pustec. For the mayor, this will be a great boost in the development of tourism.

There are about 3,000 residents left in Pustec, but it seems that tourists are the ones who give the area the most life. In recent years, thanks to investments in infrastructure and family guesthouses, Prespa has undergone a great development, while this year it is expected to open the tourist season in May, with a very special organization that will unfold the values ??that the area has, starting from traditional cooking up to the promotion of tourist attractions./CNA