Why is Albania losing its tourist shine?

2026-02-22 13:04:00, Opinione Kreshnik Spahiu

Yesterday, Northern Europe emerged from a long winter and one of the coldest in the last 20 years.

A harsh winter means for Germans, French, Poles, Dutch and Scandinavians a hunger and a need for long holidays in the sun.

For these reasons, millions of northern and eastern European tourists will flock to the shores of the Mediterranean.

But why isn't Albania preparing for a tourist season?

This year finds Albania's tourism industry in a totally chaotic state. No state, political or media segment is seriously investing in infrastructure, logistics, environment, cleanliness, trade or economy to improve the tourism industry.

The year 2026 is finding Albania:

-I saw the port of Durres, half-destroyed. It was promised to be like "Dubai", with luxurious mansions and marinas, but the port has remained a black pit of foundations and mud.

-Without the promised Tirana-Durres railway, which was said to be completed in 2026, but which is not expected to be finished even in 2036.

-With the Vlora airport, which was promised to open in June, but was seized by the court.

-With the Kukes airport, which opened with great fanfare for immigrants, but today is almost out of operation.

-Without serious investments in Albania's roads, where many segments are blocked by landslides.

-Without the completion of the four-lane expansion of the Tirana-Durres highway, which seems unlikely to be completed even in 2040.

-Without reasonable prices in supermarkets, which have increased up to three times more than in Germany or Spain.

-Without safe road traffic, where every tourist hesitates to rent a car due to the crowded roads and idiot drivers who speed like crazy.

-Without cleaning the territory, with a coastline among the most polluted in Europe.

-Without cleaning the rivers, where thousands of tons of plastic are dumped into the sea.

-Without cleaning marine waters, where according to the European Environment Agency (EEA), after laboratory analyses, Albania was listed last year as one of the countries with the most polluted marine waters.

-No functional sewage systems, with a large portion of coastal cities dumping sewage and feces into the sea.

At the end of all these government failures, comes political humiliation. Foreign media have been reporting for months about tensions, fires, and Molotov cocktails at opposition protests.

Such images do not bring down a government, but they damage Albania's image and take it off the tourist map, as happened in 1997, when the country was isolated for decades from European integration.

Berisha knows very well that Rama doesn't get knocked down with 20 bottles of gasoline by burning garbage cans, but Albania's image is set on fire very quickly. A mentally ill old man fights with the principle: "After me, let the qamet be done."

This year has started more bleak than ever for Albania.

This summer risks no longer attracting foreign tourists. Fewer and fewer Italians or Spaniards and more and more workers from Bangladesh and the Philippines. Albanian cities are no longer able to attract European citizens.

Airbnb apartments used to cost 50 euros a night; today the price has dropped to 17–25 euros, because demand has dropped.

Albanians risk losing millions of euros this year from the decline in tourism, and I hope that responsibility will not remain an orphan. Ignorance has taken over society.

We are perhaps the only people on the planet who deserve not only the government, but also the opposition we have./ CNA