Tourists coming to Albania, how "stingy"

2024-08-05 09:42:00, Ekonomi CNA

Tourists coming to Albania, how "stingy"

Illustrative photo

The return of Albania to a destination, which is making the rounds of social networks, has awakened the interest of many foreigners. The latter are active in social network groups, some as visitors who have made specific reservations, some as potential as they are seriously considering visiting Albania in the future and others who seem to be simply curious.

In the largest group on the Facebook social network "Visit Albania" which has 261 thousand followers and which serves as a large community that helps tourists with important details about the destination, you can come across many reasonable and strange requests.

How public transport works, prices, beaches and the best routes to describe are the most common, while there are no shortage of questions and specific requests.

In the forums, it is noticed that tourists come with the idea of ??spending as little as possible in Albania, as a result of the advertising that has been done to the country as a low-cost destination.

For example, on forums tourists ask if they can share a taxi to Rinas with three people (the taxi costs a total of 10-12 euros), how they can find cheap food, or travel to distant destinations at the lowest possible cost .

They ask each other on forums how they can find cheaper alternatives. "They will land at Tirana airport late in the evening (September) and we are looking for the nearest hotel with breakfast just for one night to sleep.

The next day we leave for Lake Koman, we booked a few nights there. Can you recommend a good and cheap guesthouse/hotel/apartment near the airport and a cheap way to go to Lake Koman from Tirana?” writes Julia from Poland.

Foods

Food is probably one of the topics where many foreigners ask if there are special places for vegetarian food, gluten-free dishes, "halal" food.

Likewise, many ask where they can try traditional food. Even impressed by the cooking in Albania, it seems that one of the tourists is willing to take cooking classes for yogurt casserole, one of the most popular dishes of foreigners in our country.

"Hello! Does anyone know of a cooking class in Durrës or Tirana. I would like to participate only on the 19th. I am more interested in the yogurt casserole but also in everything else.

I have to spend time with this until 0:009 in the evening when my plane leaves, but I will have to leave the apartment where I am at 10:00 in the morning" writes one of the foreign visitors.

Another foreigner who was visiting Berat asked the group if there was any family interested in sharing one more plate of food for him as well, describing this as a tourist experience to see the tradition of the area up close.

Sharing of shipping costs and cars without warranty

The most frequently asked question is about how transport works in the country. Most tourists ask about public transport in an attempt to save as much as possible where the community that is part of the group posts timetables according to the bus departures at the terminals or private companies.

Another category is always a rental car at the lowest possible price that does not require a credit card or a guarantee.

There are not a few cases when tourists decide to share trips with each other (a practice that is very popular in Europe through some applications such as BlaBla Car) to reduce costs to the maximum, sometimes even in an exaggerated form.

"Hello! We have a flight tomorrow morning at 06:30. Maybe someone else is flying around the same time and would like us to take a taxi from Tirana to the Airport. We are two people," said a visitor's post. We remind you that the taxi ride from Tirana to the Airport for one person costs between 1100-1200 ALL.

Individual tours and as cheap as possible

Another group are the adventurers who logically seek to explore everything alone and at a minimal cost. There are many people who are interested in the Theth-Valbona trail if it can be done alone and with children or in the Sala River where, as far as possible, the boats are requested to be taken individually.

"Hello, can anyone suggest me the cheapest way to go to Lum e Shala. Is there anything cheaper than 25 euros? Is it possible to take the boat alone (without tours)" asks an Italian tourist

Litter on beaches, rivers and lakes

One of the most commented elements by foreigners is the waste. There have been quite a few beaches where photos with "mountains" of waste or inert materials have been posted near tourist spots, especially in Ksamil. They are mainly Italian, British and other foreign bloggers and influencers who describe the waste part as the most problematic aspect.

Some of them during a tour in Koman state that covering the surface with waste will eventually destroy the tourism part that is flourishing in the country, while others do not hesitate to describe Albania as a third world country, far from the splendor that is conveyed on social networks with crystal beaches.

Abandoned animals

A considerable number of tourists express their surprise at the large number of animals abandoned on the streets by posting photos of cats or dogs from wherever they come across them.

In many cases they appeal to others to take care of them after a few days of being taken care of as they will leave and in others they ask for contacts of regional organizations that take care of animals. /Monitor