Cultural and creative tourism
Albania has a total of 2028 cultural monuments, preserved heritage sites and monuments, diverse cultural influences, along with the ability of many locals to communicate in several languages, making cultural tourism a good fit. According to the National Institute of Statistics, Culture statistics data124, the number of visitors to monuments of culture, castles, museums, archaeological parks, and other sites in 2016 increased by 17.5 percent from 2015. Visitors to museums, castles, monuments and archaeological parks had surpassed 1,000,000 visitors in 2019 with about 55% of those being foreign visitors, dropping to about 10% in 2020.
IntoAlbania is a tourism development project funded by USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and The Embassy of Sweden in Albania. IntoAlbania.com has strategic partners including the Ministry of Culture of Albania and the Ministry of Tourism and Environment of Albania. The 3-year programme, which started in 2017, aimed to generate an economic benefit of $16.3 Million, an increase of over 60.000 visitors and create 670 new jobs125. It combines an Internet Platform and Smartphone Application, Modern Digital Technology on Key National Museums and a Character Hospitality Model with Selected Hospitality Providers.
On 22 December 2018, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the Albanian Ministry of Culture and the municipality of Korça inaugurated the new Gjon Mili Museum, occupying the Romanian Building, one of the most iconic buildings in Korça. The investment of 425,000 Euro was part of TAP’s social and environmental investment (SEI) programme. Gjon Mili (1904-1984) was a pioneer in the use of stroboscopic instruments to capture a sequence of actions in one photograph. He is most famous for his images that captured Picasso drawing with light.
There have been and still are many grants supporting tourism and development promotion in Albania from the European Union implemented also by Regional Cooperation Council, including several routes such as Routes of the Olive Tree126.
As can be seen from the Table below, the 2021 net income for travel and tourism in Albania for the first 6 months of the year was 3 times higher compared to 2020, since the expenses decreased compared to previous years.
Comments are closed.