Lura, one of the most beautiful gems of Albanian nature and selected by the government as one of Albania’s future agribusiness villages under its recently launched 100 Villages program, already offers the first agritourism entrepreneurial success stories. A small lodging guesthouse establishment recently launched by a local resident named Llesh Doçi in his private family home welcomed today the visiting Prime Minister Edi Rama. The guesthouse owner said that it were exactly Lura’s stunning beauty, its awe-inspiring natural wonders and its unique values that had persuaded him to return to his birthplace after 35 years. He said that after nine years since he launched this family-run business, his guesthouse hosts a growing number of foreign and Albanian visitors alike. “I have been living in Tirana for over 35 years. I left my birthplace since I was ten and I came back to Lura along with my wife, both teachers by training, to provide our contribution to the area and we did the right thing. Returning home was not a coincidence but a well thought out decision. Upon my return I invested my savings in building this guesthouse. I have also built a small fish farm with the fish feeding fully natural food. Foreign visitors are absolutely amazed. I am pleased that number of Albanian visitors to my guesthouse is increasing. Many people make advance booking,” he said.
Doçi said he was exploring plans to further expand his activity by restoring another 100 year old traditional Albanian stone house, known as “kulle”, “I own another 100-year-old house, which has been declared a monument of culture by the Ministry of Culture and I think that I would turn it into a genuine guesthouse, a genuine autochthonous tower as it used to be,” he said.
Prime Minister Edi Rama reiterated that his government is committed to support the restoration of all typical stone houses across the country. “You can file your application of the old guesthouse right away today. We have launched a new call for agritourism businesses as the first call failed to produce the desired results. We are ready to provide funding, not a loan but direct cash support covering half of the investment cost and if you design the project within this month I will provide further support. We also plan to do here the same we are already doing in the villages of Vunoi and Dhërmi in the country’s south. We will start making all required restorations under a funding program by the Albanian Development Fund, repairing the walls, roofs and exterior parts in order to allow owners of these private residences to provide simple traditional furnishings,” PM Rama said.
The Premier voiced optimism that Lura will undergo radical transformation over the next two years thanks to such entrepreneurial success stories. “I am deeply convinced that an economic miracle will take place here if other families do what you have already done. But we want to first support those who have already established successful agritourism models and have an idea of what it is all about and let the others see and follow the lead. Plus this should be done in coordination with the farming, including fish farms, bee farms and dairies in order to create a whole network that creates new jobs and increases income. I am confident that another situation will be created within the next two years. Of course this sector will need more support,” the Premier added.
PM Rama also said that the government was considering plans to fund the project on construction of the rural road leading to Lura.
