“The Maldives of Europe”. “Beaches just like Thailand”. I’d read many such phrases about Ksamil, a small beach town jutting out from Albania’s south coast, before I visited. Yet standing there on a Tuesday evening late last summer, I couldn’t help but zone in on the empty beer bottles lining the promenade, the cigarette butts in the surf and the sunbeds covering every inch of sand.

Spinning around, the view wasn’t much better: bars crammed behind every section of beach and, beyond them, high-rise hotels or scaffolding where more were being built. I’d just arrived via ferry from northern Corfu, where unspoiled villages provide much of the appeal. I’d heard good things about Ksamil. So, what’s gone wrong?

Put simply: overtourism. Albania, not long ago considered the last frontier of Mediterranean breaks, has been betting big on the holiday pound. Hotels are opening at a rate of knots and social-media influencers are doing their best to help fill them.

In 2015, more than three million overseas tourists touched down on its sunny shores. That figure rose steadily to more than four million in 2017, then jumped to more than six million in 2019. Since the pandemic, however, numbers have skyrocketed. Around 10 million people came in 2023 – a 56 per cent increase on pre-Covid figures – making Albania Europe’s fastest-growing holiday destination.

And this is just the beginning. Last year the Albanian government unveiled its new National Tourism Strategy, which envisages welcoming up to 30 million foreign tourists by 2030 – more than Portugal or Croatia currently receive. To hit that target, the new developments continue apace, with Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump recently getting the go-ahead for a $1.4 billion luxury hotel on the island of Sazan.

Economically, this is great news for what is still one of Europe’s poorest countries. But what will the ecological impact be? Is Albania on the fast track to the same sort of overtourism problems seen in, for example, Spain? And how will the rapid changes affect the overall experience for tourists?

For my part, I was expecting to find an authentic seaside town, but was greeted by gaudy beach bars, each guarding a section of beach and charging visitors for the privilege of lying on a sun lounger (usually around 1,000 lek, or £8). The hotels along the seafront looked hastily constructed and were reminiscent of those built during Spain’s tourism spike in the Seventies. Parts of the Spanish coastline remain an eyesore to this day, compared to the quaint fishing villages that came before. Ksamil itself was a small fishing village before it became a holiday hotspot. It’s hard not to think of history repeating itself.

For my part, I was expecting to find an authentic seaside town, but was greeted by gaudy beach bars, each guarding a section of beach and charging visitors for the privilege of lying on a sun lounger (usually around 1,000 lek, or £8). The hotels along the seafront looked hastily constructed and were reminiscent of those built during Spain’s tourism spike in the Seventies. Parts of the Spanish coastline remain an eyesore to this day, compared to the quaint fishing villages that came before. Ksamil itself was a small fishing village before it became a holiday hotspot. It’s hard not to think of history repeating itself.

Those improvements to infrastructure were certainly evident. Reaching and getting around Albania was a doddle. I flew to Corfu, where I stayed for a few days, then took a ferry from Corfu Town to Saranda, just up the coast from Ksamil (from €19, or £16, with Ionian Seaways). On my way home, I booked a coach from Saranda to the capital, Tirana (€15, or £12.50, with Gjirafa Travel), where I spent a further two days, then flew direct to London Stansted with Ryanair for £65. What Didani says was once an “isolated country” is certainly no longer that.

With its dark Communist past in mind, Albania’s current situation is a step in the right direction – yet the environmental impact of spiking tourist numbers is sadly less positive. According to the Travel and Tourism Development Index, Albania lags behind the European average in managing natural resources, and there’s concern that tourism development has already gone beyond what is sustainable.

“Some construction projects have been carried out without proper planning,” said Didani. “In coastal areas like Saranda, there have been instances of environmental degradation due to the dumping of construction waste into the sea.”

Another issue that Didani highlights is the expansion of beaches to create more space for tourists, which is disrupting marine ecosystems and biodiversity. There’s also water pollution and litter accumulation on the sand.

The answer? “To safeguard the environment, Albania needs to implement clear policies on waste management, promote clean energy and support projects that respect nature,” said Didani.

Locals being priced out of the property market – as has been seen in places like Majorca – is also a worry. “Mass tourism has driven up prices in coastal areas, making rent and services unaffordable for residents,” warned Didani.

But there’s no denying the benefits. “Tourism is one of the best ways to boost local economies,” said Elton Caushi, owner of boutique tour operator Albanian Trip. It’s certainly created jobs: In 2023, travel and tourism contributed 25 per cent of Albania’s GDP, and the number of jobs in the sector has increased by 10 per cent since 2019, now making up one in five jobs in the country, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

You can see this success reflected in the mood of the people, too. Where waiters in Athens on a previous holiday scolded my partner and I for our embarrassingly poor knowledge of Greek, staff in Ksamil’s beachside restaurants couldn’t do enough for us.

Prices also remain reasonable. At Mussel House, a beautiful and isolated restaurant right on the waters of Lake Butrint, between Saranda and Ksamil, I ate a sublime dish of mussels followed by a delicious tuna steak for just £20; the equivalent meal in England would have cost twice as much.

There still seems to be an air of novelty about holidaymakers amongst the locals but, after seeing the European anti-tourism protests last summer, one can only hope Albania gets a handle on the growth before it causes similar hostility. Prime minister Edi Rama, the driving force behind the country’s tourism strategy, must ensure it’s all done in a sustainable way.

“Sustainable tourism is all about creating a win-win situation for everyone – tourists, locals and the environment,” said Caushi. “It’s making sure that as tourism grows, it doesn’t come at the expense of the things that make Albania so special.”

There are warning signs in Ksamil; time will tell whether the country heeds them.

(Source: The Telegraph)