Flux or boom of visitors?/ The figures "disprove" the propaganda, tourism has problems

2024-08-02 12:59:00, Aktualitet CNA

Flux or boom of visitors?/ The figures "disprove" the propaganda,

The place is located at the peak of the tourist season, and this very moment has sparked discussions about the number of visitors. The government and the responsible institutions take care to echo the figures that the number of tourists has experienced a boom throughout this year, often referring to the data coming from the "Mother Teresa" airport.

As pictures are published every day that the beaches, mainly in the south of Albania, have been abandoned due to high prices, Prime Minister Edi Rama came out and said that almost 1 million and 200 thousand passengers have entered from the airport.

CNA will stop at some other figures, those coming from the border points in the southeast, Kapshtica and Qafe Thane. Considering that many Albanians live in neighboring Greece, we will analyze the figures coming from these border points.

In the last 20 days, 55,209 citizens have entered the border point of Kapshtica. Considering the number of hundreds of thousands of Albanian immigrants living in Greece and the fact that it is the peak of the season, these figures do not show the claimed "boom" of vacationers.

We recall that last year on July 14-20, for a period of 6 days, about 14 thousand citizens entered Albania from Greece. This shows the opposite, not the increase, but the drastic decrease in the number of vacationers.

While 55,209 entries were registered, 48,109 citizens left Albania in Greece. The difference is negligible. The flow in the months of July and August has always been increased, but not record numbers as the government tells us.

On the other hand, we have the Qafë-Thana border point, where more exits than entries have been registered. 72745 citizens have left the Albanian territory and 70899 have entered.

These figures confirm the rumors that Albanians left the wonderful south of the country this year, to rest abroad, mainly in Greece. What forced them were the prices which rose significantly this year. If last year, they chose to stay despite the increase in prices, the further increase in prices made them leave the local coast.

Regardless of the denial that Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks for the news that the beaches are empty, or that tourism has no problems, the panorama looks different. We are not questioning the growth that Albanian tourism has undergone, or the increase in flows compared to previous years, but that the numbers are inflated and Albanians have chosen to spend their holidays abroad due to price abuses, this cannot be denied ./CNA