The tourists who come to Albania are "low cost", the most "stingy" are the Italians

While the government proudly counts the increase in the number of foreign tourists, it seems that the business is not at all satisfied with the income it counts at the end of each day.

Several businesses (24) were part of the "Monitor" survey, through the ECR (Engaged Citizens Reporting) platform.

50% of respondents from businesses said that foreigners dominate in their hotel structures. Only 20% said that Albanians dominate and the rest mention both groups equally.

With Albania being marketed as a low-cost country, foreigners seem to be the ones who are not willing to spend a lot.

Businesses said that foreigners are the ones who spend less, with 48% of the choice, while only 24% of respondents said that it is Albanians who have lower budgets during their stay in their tourist accommodations. 28% labeled both groups the same.

When asked who are the tourists who spend less than their nationality, the Italians ranked first, followed by the Poles. The Russians, Ukrainians, Czechs are listed after them.

In the comments section of the survey, businesses state that the tourist visiting our country wants to spend as little as possible. "They are super low cost tourists, supermarket tourists", one of them would say.

In the same line, it seems to be the comment of another business that assesses that those who come to Albania are very frugal and have chosen our country for this very reason.

The massive arrival of foreigners to Albania, especially last year and this year, comes from the extensive promotion of the country in the international media and social networks with a focus on cheapness.

Headlines such as "Visit Europe's Maldives (Ksamili) that costs a fraction of the price", "Not just cheap holidays" or "How to spend holidays in Albania on 100 pounds" are doing the rounds of the network, encouraging massively curious budget travelers.

This type of mass tourism is bringing high flows in some regions of the country, something that encouraged the increase in prices in some regions and as a chain effect brought the cancellation of reservations by a part of foreigners, mainly Italians, as well as the departure of locals and Kosovar Albanians from the weekend holidays.

In fact, the survey shows that tourists, both domestic and foreign, are very price sensitive.

39% of business respondents said that price is the main factor in the selection that customers make in their business, followed by quality at 29% and ambience at 20%.

Service is the last element that tourists consider when they want to book an accommodation unit (12%).

Why do you "prefer" foreign tourists, Albanians are the ones who spend the most

While the Albanians themselves are looking for cheap prices and most of them declared that they spend less than 50 euros a day when they go on vacation, the foreigners who come to Albania are even more sly.

Business survey data show that Albanians dominate the question "Who tends to spend more in your business", with 48%, while 25% of respondents said that the two groups are the same.

Among foreigners, the most indulgent are the English, with 13%, followed by the Germans, Norwegians, Spaniards, and Dutch.

The survey shows that mainly in the accommodation structures family members dominate.

 

The devaluation of the euro, the main problem of tourist operators

The dilemmas of whether there are more or less tourists (domestic and foreign together) or more or less consumption seem to remain so, not without reason.

The tourism businesses themselves, asked about their income this year compared to the previous year, do not confirm a tourism miracle that differs significantly from last year.

At least 54 percent of businesses report that their income has increased this year compared to 2023, while the rest of 46 percent have highlighted that there is a decrease.

Regarding the biggest difficulties they encounter in their activity, 46 percent of businesses report that the devaluation of the euro is the one that has had the greatest impact.

The lack of staff, which was an alarm a year ago about how to cope with a season with even higher flows, seems to be a concern for 12.5 percent of businesses.

Poor infrastructure is the biggest difficulty for at least 20 percent of other businesses.

Improve infrastructure

Even this summer season found the country with a half-baked infrastructure.

While all the investment attention seems to have gone to the south, in the rest of the country, especially in the area of ​​Durrës and Golem, traffic continues to be heavy and the secondary roads have not been completed yet.

All businesses without exception have recommended the improvement of infrastructure as the main measure to promote the tourism sector in the country.

Other measures recommended by businesses are Providing more information and services; Promotion of sustainable tourism practices; Providing the best value for money; Increasing cultural and recreational activities

The respondents also emphasize the improvement of service and human capital that serves the industry, which according to them is the Achilles' heel./Monitor