A digital National Tourism Calendar 2023 is the latest innovation launched by the Albanian government, accessible via a free mobile phone application for tourists named TEA (Tourism Events of Albania), adding up to the bustling summer tourist season already underway in the country.
The National Tourism unveiled the digital National Tourism Calendar of the cultural, sports and traditional events in Albania, accessible via TEA, a free mobile application offered as a surprise on the smart phones of everyone, featuring a plethora of event offers in tourist Albania.
Prime Minister Edi Rama addressed a ceremony marking the launch of the innovation, underlining that “combining and including cultural heritage, Albanian traditional cuisine, arts, and all sorts of traditional and contemporary activities represents an incredible opportunity to boost Albania’s capacities in attracting visitors from all over the world.”
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Hello everyone! Thank you for attending! Fortunately, the weather allows us to host this event which was already scheduled to take place a few days ago, but was postponed due to the rainy conditions. I am very happy that a new innovation product is now in place, this time developed by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment through the National Tourism Agency and under the auspices of Zana (Çela), who has embarked on a new stage of her career path, employing all her skills and management experience to take work of the National Tourism Agency to a whole new level and we can now state that a cultural and artistic calendar of whole tourist Albania is now available and accessible for everyone via a simple and informing application.
The cultural and artistic calendar of tourist Albania is indeed a project launched together with the then Culture Minister Mirela Kumbaro for some years now. A new but constantly evolving stage is now underway, because we very much believe that tourist Albania goes beyond the stunning turquoise sea water, beyond the magical peaks, valleys and landscape in general and the reasons to visit Albania are a lot more than that and therefore combining and including cultural heritage, Albanian traditional cuisine, arts, and all sorts of traditional and contemporary activities represent an incredible opportunity to boost Albania’s capacities in attracting visitors from all over the world.
This calendar is actually totally accessible via this application and it helps everyone to receive real time information about any opportunity available within a certain territory, so that they can visit museums, archaeological sites, theatres, various events and so on and so forth. The application is a reflection of a work being done throughout the territory of Albania and now becomes available to everyone.
The range of over 1 000 activities throughout the year and around 600 events during the tourist season only is quite impressive. It is a serious ongoing effort. I am convinced we have all the reasons to be super optimistic about tourist Albania. Suffice to draw attention to the Tirana airport that handled less than 1 million passengers annually until just a few years ago, while our projections show that around 6.5 million to 7 million passengers will fly from and to the international airport this year and, given its size, it is amazing news that Mother Teresa airport stands the chances to become the airport with the largest number of passengers in the Western Balkans, including Belgrade’s airport that is the largest airport in the region. However, it is not Tirana airport only. The Kukes airport is also operational which, albeit slowly, is hosting a gradually growing number of air passengers and the tourists number will grow constantly as northern and northeastern Albania is increasingly showcasing enchanting landscape and stunning nature. Vlora international airport is also part of this ambitious strategic policy on tourism development and construction work has significantly advanced and is expected to become a competitive airport with Tirana airport, currently the only international airport. Construction of the tourist harbors are also part of this plan.
In addition to this, the growing number of visitors from all over the world is generating significant revenue for the mainstream economy, with the tourism sector playing an increasingly important role, now generating around 18% of the country’s GDP, significantly up from just 4% of the GDP just a few years ago.
We are witnessing a growing number of applications for construction permits to build hotels, which was something rarely happening just a few years ago if compared to the applications for construction of private family homes and villas. Unlike in the past, the world’s largest tourism and travel companies are eying investment opportunities in Albania.
On the other hand, it is also growing the number of individuals who have already realized that transforming their private family homes into guesthouses and tourist farmhouses generate a lot more income for the owners and their families by joining this way the leisure and hospitality industry.
All these are definitely translated into new jobs. The country’s tourism industry no longer faces shortages of jobs. On the contrary, this sector is creating an ever growing number of new high-paying jobs. Yet the sector is facing a shortage of skilled and qualified employees. The problem is that the industry has a very high demand for workers right now.
And the sector will increasingly need to expand its demand space beyond Albania’s borders, because this is really a serious problem. Monthly wages in the tourism industry are really competitive and are becoming more competitive with the established tourism industries in the region. We no longer struggle in convincing the largest global brands to set their eyes on Albania as many of them are queuing to kick off construction projects or file applications for construction permits. I am convinced that Albania will host the world’s largest tourism brands, like other countries, within a decade. And we will definitely deliver on the 10 million visitor target a year much earlier than expected.
We have the opportunity to make this a unique offer.
TEA application is an innovative solution that has drawn attention at regional or larger international conferences as a new way to provide everyone real time information on what is happening in the territory in terms of entertaining and leisure events for the holidaymakers, both Albanian and foreign visitors.
Thank you very much!
