The upcoming tourist season due to be launched soon is expected to be more relaxed than the last year’s season as a result of the ongoing mass COVID vaccination campaign. Tourism operators and entrepreneurs, managers of the tourist complexes, resorts and various hotels are primarily the most interested individuals when it comes to the tourist season. Prime Minister Edi Rama held a friendly meeting with a group of tourism industry representatives at the tourist complex Fafa located on the beachfront in Golem,, Durres municipality, which, thanks to the generosity and solidarity demonstrated by these entrepreneurs, it became a huge centre to provide shelter and accommodation for a large number of local residents, who lost their homes in the devastating earthquake that hit Albania on November 26, 2019.

“I would like to once again express the deepest of gratitude – though it is never enough for you here and others involved in this sector that are not here today but are part of this chain – for opening your doors to the affected people immediately after the most difficult moments in the wake of the devastating earthquake. You made available all these structures to the unfortunate and this really unforgettable,” the Premier said, adding that the upcoming tourist season will be more successful, also thanks to the investments designed to boost hotel capacities, as well as thanks to the ongoing mass vaccination campaign that will significantly relax the situation.

“Capacities of the hospitality industry have trebled and it is not just a matter of numbers, but also a matter of quality. I have recently met some of you, who have presented new extremely ambitious and qualitative projects. With the mass vaccination, we are fully confident we will be able to break the chain of infections along many links of this chain and we will be able to launch a significantly more relaxed tourism season. In the meantime, with the vaccination of the categories at higher risk from the invisible enemy and the vaccination of the elderly complete, we plan to start inoculation of the workers at garment and footwear industry, as well as the vaccination of workers at the hospitality industry,” PM Rama said.

The Premier underlined that the state health structures have been engaged in this process. “The Minister of Tourism is working on this and he has provided information on the number of workers at all operators. We are compiling the list of names and the number of people, who will receive the vaccine once we complete this initial early phase of the vaccination by May or June, when you will start to host the initial influxes of visitors. Vaccination of workers of hospitality industry will be vaccinated by then. I am very glad to see that you have started to receive the early requests from the tour operators. We succeeded last year, because we kept the border with Kosovo and North Macedonia open and the last year’s season was dominated by Albanian holidaymakers, who were unable to travel to other countries for their vacations. You belong to the category of entrepreneurs to fare better during this situation,” the Premier said, pledging the government support for this sector’s development.