The tight-fisted tourists cannot "replace" the Albanians who have fled, the data: Weak consumption even in the first quarter

Although there are tourists in the country almost everywhere and their number has increased by over 40% compared to last year, consumption continues to remain weak. INSTAT reported in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) indicators that the final consumption of the population increased by 3.59% on an annual basis in the first quarter of the country, from 3.75% which was the increase in the last quarter and lower than in the quarter of second 2023, when the expansion reached 4.7%.

Consumption growth rates are slower than in the pre-pandemic period. Although, according to INSTAT, 1.5 million foreign nationals entered the country in the first three months of the year, with a 43% increase compared to the same period a year ago, consumption has not marked any significant revival.

The same trend was observed last year. Consumption grew by 3.8% in 2023, the lowest level since the pandemic. The poor performance of consumption is related to two factors:

- First, the flight of the local population. INSTAT found in the last Census that the local population is 2.4 million inhabitants, from about 2.78 which was the previous estimate. Compared to the Census of 10 years ago, there are about 400,000 fewer people in the country, mainly due to emigration. Most of the refugees are young people, whose departure has affected the consumption of products such as dough, sugar, processed meat products, frequenting bars, etc.

-Secondly, Albania is marketed as a free country and the tourists who come tend to spend little. According to the operators of the market, the attendances have been mostly from tourists with medium and low incomes, where up to 70% of them are adventure tourists, "with backpacks", who tend to spend little.

Moreover, tourists stay for a short time and do not manage to replace the sustainable consumption of permanent residents.

"Poor" tourists, the average expenditure is around 410 euros/person per trip

Last year, Albania was visited by about 10.2 million foreign citizens according to INSTAT data, an increase of 35% compared to the previous year.

According to the balance of payments data of the Bank of Albania, it is estimated that foreign tourists spent a total of about 4.2 billion euros in Albania during 2023. Foreign tourists' spending increased by 47% compared to 2022.

On average, tourists spend around 412 euros per person. Based on this data, according to the representative of the Association of Bars and Restaurants, Enri Jahja, the foreign tourist who visits the country cannot even be considered a spender of an average budget.

Based on the type of restaurants that are preferred or frequented by foreign tourists, Jahja says that they rather choose the structures where food is offered, mainly meatballs and traditional Albanian dishes because of the economic prices.

"Based on the data on expenses per person, which are calculated around 420 euros, it turns out that a category C tourist has come to Albania, i.e. a "cheap" tourist who spends less than an Albanian spends when he visits the cheapest resort in the summer months. Turkey", says Enri Jahja from the Association of Bars and Restaurants./ Monitor