Agritourism in the region of Tepelena and the surrounding areas is being given a fresh impetus and dimension thanks to the various private investments and the innovative ideas to beautifully blend with the tradition. The village of Nivice, located just 20 km from the town of Tepelena, southern Albania, is thriving and being restored to its vibrant and active life with the growing number of visitors increasingly picking it as an important tourist destination.
“Camp Nivica“ is the first Swedish investment in Albania’s sustainable tourism, a model eco resort and a nature luxury destination amidst magical landscape, the most significant example of wisdom and respect for nature, demonstrating how a well-thought-out tourist enterprise can be launched through a minimum funding.
Prime Minister Edi Rama today visited the village of Nivice to see first-hand this interesting investment by the Swedish couple.
Located in the heart of the Kurvelesh highlands, Camp Nivica is within hiking distance of high mountains, uncharted deep canyons and traditional mountain villages and it features tents erected on removable and packable wooden structures. The safari-style camp tents are installed for the very first time in Albania on wooden structures that are covered with straw to avoid heat.
“We have made efforts to build a safari-style ecological camp in Nivice amid mountains and canyons making up the surrounding landscape. It was important for us to build by using natural materials and try to create a space where friends feel as close to nature as possible, in a way that they do not often experience when living in big cities or when they cannot embark on hiking or mountain climbing activities. It all works thanks to 20 solar panels in total. We have also sought to closely cooperate with the local community in Nivice,” Swedish investor said, adding a growing number of Albanian and international visitors are showing increased interest in visiting the area since construction of the eco resort in Nivice.
“A growing number of people book the camp to engage in hiking, mountain climbing and to visit the canyons. The camp is nestled among a wonderful landscape. We have appeared on the Swedish media and a growing number of visitors from Sweden are booking. It is actually a combination of visitors, as around 50% of the bookings are made by Albanian visitors and another 50% of visitors come from the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and the United States of America,” she said.
After visiting the camp, PM Rama said the investment was a splendid example of building luxury facilities without destroying nature. “It is also a fantastic example for others to learn how to build luxury facilities without affecting nature. I am pretty convinced this investment will spur a whole fresh wave of this sort of nature and sustainable tourism. People can learn through such examples how to wisely build a lot with minimum funding,” PM Rama said.
Camp Nivica eco resort is a “nature luxury” destination in the Albanian mountains and the first foreign investment in an agribusiness enterprise in the country.
The investment transforms the remote area of Nivica into a destination of elite tourism through a top-category and 100% ecological resort. The vision of the company is to create a new brand of touristic products of Scandinavian quality in Albania, primarily through investment, development and marketing of sustainable boutique hotels and tourism concepts.
As many as 12 enterprises operate in the agritourism and rural tourism sector in the southern municipality of Tepelene and its rural areas, with five of them in the village of Nivice alone. The guesthouses built by the 12 businesses preserve the local construction tradition.
Nivica is located in the heart of the Albanian south; a strategic location with closeness to the UNESCO-sites Gjirokastra, Berat and Butrint as well as the Albanian Riviera, making it possible to produce a unique and varied travel itinerary combining hiking, cultural excursions and visits to the coast.
