Tourism, the "backbone" of the socialists' development battle!

By Irena Beqiraj

There is no Albanian who has not heard these two numbers: 1) in 2024, 11.7 million tourists entered and 2) in 2030, the socialists' "Tourist Albania" aims to host 30 million tourists!

We cannot dispute these figures because the Prime Minister has personally taken care almost every week to proudly impress upon us the achievements and socialist ambitions in this sector.

Even the statistical bulletin on tourism prepared by the Ministry of Tourism is filled with graphs where the brilliance and growth are evident.

So "30 million tourists by 2030" is the socialists' developmental battle horse that will pull our economic cart towards prosperity!

If the expansion of the tourism sector were accompanied by the expansion of other sectors of the economy, such as agriculture or the food industry, I would not lack the will to believe it. But the facts show that it has happened differently.

For example, in 2024, due to the increase in the number of tourists, beer consumption also increased. In Albania, a total of 95 thousand tons of beer were consumed during 2024, but 59 thousand tons or 62% of this consumption came from imports, while only 38% of the beer consumed was domestic beer. Moreover, the consumption of imported beer has increased. In 2021, imported beer accounted for only 55% of consumption, while before the pandemic it was about 50%. Meanwhile, domestic beer production has decreased by about 8%.

While tourism in Albania was expanding, the same downward trend as beer was experienced by the production of agricultural products and by-products (except fish, eggs and honey), which in fact should have seen growth, supporting the sustainability of the "tourism" economy.

So the expansion of tourism, instead of expanding the market for domestic products, has reduced it by expanding markets for imported products.

According to INSTAT, in the first 9 months of 2024 (which includes the tourist season), Albania managed to sell 38.5 billion lek of food, beverages and tobacco, while purchasing 117 billion lek of products from foreign markets, almost 4 times more.

If the country continues to increase imports and experience a decrease in domestic production for most of the essential goods and products consumed in the territory, further expansion of tourism will be accompanied by inflation. This inflationary pressure reduces the well-being of the population and consequently its consumption. Therefore, while in 2023 tourism began to expand significantly, consumption growth was at its lowest levels since the pandemic.

Only the corks are destined to float to the surface. If we think a little deeper, the reality shows that even if we win the "Champions League" of tourism measured by the number of tourists, without an urgent intervention with informed public and private decision-making, tourism will not only be the "white horse" of economic growth, but unfortunately it will continue to easily and short-sightedly allocate financial and human resources, weakening the power and ability of other sectors that are a

real opportunity for sustainable development!