Recently Tirana hosted the 70th meeting of the Commission for Europe of the World Tourism Organization, organized by the Albanian Ministry of Tourism and Environment and UNWTO with the participation of ministers and senior representatives of the tourism sector from 40 countries.

Among the distinguished participants was the Israeli Minister of Tourism, Haim Katz. Albanian Daily News had the opportunity to interview Mr Katz, who also signed a declaration of cooperation with the Albanian Minister of Tourism and Environment, Mirela Kumbaro. 

Although his tourism-oriented visit – and as a consequence, the interview – came at a difficult time for his country, Minister Katz believes the Albanian are Israel are about to expand their cooperation in this field as well as in other sectors. After his meetings and visits in Albania, he expressed confidence that Albania deserves the recent achievements in tourism and even more.

“I knew your country was blessed with many of the components the average tourists is looking for, such as sea shore, history, archaeology, landscape, good food, etc. but all that is not enough for the numbers you have reached.  I believe you have done a good job in marketing Albania,” said Minister Haim Katz in this interview:

-Your Excellency, thank you for this opportunity. Although your visit comes at a difficult time for Israel, an international event on tourism sounds as something normal for Albania, given the recent rise of this sector in our country. Despite the fact that Albanian tourism industry has a lot of shortcomings, how do would you comment this newfound success of ours?

-I am glad to be in your welcoming Tirana.

Indeed, it is a difficult time for my country and I assume your readers are aware of the horrible terrorist attack Israel suffered on October 7th. Following that day many sectors in Israel were affected including the tourism sector and hundreds of thousands of Israelis found themselves displaced. In the south of Israel, many lost their homes that were burned to the ground and in the north they are being threatened daily by the rockets launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah. As former minister of welfare I used my experience and in the last six months my ministry is taking care of those Israelis that were forced to evacuated their homes from north and south, and relocate them in their “temporary homes” in hotels. Also as ministry of tourism, funding their stay helps them and help the hotels that suffer of lack of tourists during the war. We also accompany the families of the Israeli hostages who are still kept in Gaza.

Coming back to the topic I’m suppose to deal with in times of peace, I am happy to take part in this summit and also to learn of the great success Albania has recently in attracting a phenomenal number of tourists comparing to its small size.

You must be doing something right. I mean, I knew your country was blessed with many of the components the average tourists is looking for, such as sea shore, history, archaeology, landscape, good food, etc. but all that is not enough for the numbers you have reached.  I believe you have done a good job in marketing Albania.

-Could you share with us some further details regarding the agreement signed with the Albania side?

-This declaration on cooperation in the field of tourism enables our countries to cooperate beyond sending tourists, also to generate mutual projects such as conferences, training programs etc. I truly believe that the more exchange of tourists we will have the more so called ambassadors we will become of each other. From my experience most people that visit Israel become its ambassadors in the world. After visiting your beautiful country, I know it happens to tourists who visit Albania as well.

-How would you assess the overall relations between our two countries? I would add, between the two nations, as I understand you have also paid a visit to Pristina recently.

-The history is very significant to understand the present. Israel will never forget the kindness of the Albanian people and how they saved Jews during the Holocaust. During my stay in Albania, I heard some amazing stories about that period. Since then, our relations got even closer and there is a feeling that both our nations will always be there for each other. In 2019, when Albania experienced a terrible earthquake, Israel was one of the countries that showed up to assist. Same happened after the Iranian hacker’s attack on your governmental agencies, Israel’s cyber agency immediately answered your Prime ministers request and help you stabilize the systems. We witnessed your tremendous support and standing by Israel six months ago, as members of the UN Security Council, when we were struggling in our pain after October 7th.

And these are just recent examples. Also, your country’s constant and courageous fight against anti-semitism is well appreciated.

As for Kosovo, you know Israel decided to recognize Kosovo since established the official relations and the opening of the Kosovar representation in Jerusalem, they are getting better and closer.  And the motivation is coming from both sides. Myself I was happy to visit Kosovo in September 2023. I met with the president, the prime minister, minister of Foreign Affairs and of course with the minister of tourism, with whom I signed a declaration of cooperation. I also met the mayors of Pristina and Prizren, as I was visiting their cities. And of course I met the representatives of the Jewish community.

-Tourism, agriculture and technology have been tagged during these years as optimal sectors of Albania-Israel cooperation, with the recent insertion of cyber-security, for known reasons. Is there any recent concrete development; in other words, would you say the degree of cooperation is satisfactory and what needs to be done?

-The founding fathers of the state of Israel, like our first PM Ben Gurion and Foreign Minister and PM Golda Meir, believed that one of the conducts of the Jewish state will be sharing knowledge with our friends. And Israel has been doing it since the beginning for the last eight decades. We share knowledge of the areas we feel we can excel and those are the sectors you mentioned:

Tourism and Agriculture, and also technology. In the last several decades’ Israeli technologies are well recognized worldwide and are used in many fields. Cyber is one of the recent ones.

Currently we have cooperation in all the above sectors but there is always a place for improvement and I know that our embassy in Tirana puts a lot of efforts in enhancing our economic relations. I was told that only in 2023 they organized two impressive events to attacked businesses and investors from Israel.

I hope that following my visit here we will see a positive change also in the field of tourism.

-Could share with us, Sir, your impressions about Albania during this visit? 

As you know, this is my first visit to Albania. I had the chance to travel in the region but here it’s my first time. My first impression is a good surprise.

In the short time I’m here I was lucky enough to visit three cities, meet interesting people and friends, and eat your tasty food.  I found Tirana a very pleasant place to be, welcoming, clean, colourful and very vibrant. I met mayor Veliaj and enjoyed talking to him and listen to his vision of the city. I travelled to Berat and met mayor Demo, who took me around to see the castle, the special houses in the old city, and Pupa winery. I was touched when I visited the Jewish museum in Berat and learned about the Jewish life there. And yesterday I had a great visit to Kruja, the castle, the museum and the colourful traditional market.

From what I saw and tasted in Albania, I get the impression that you have a lot to offer to the Israeli tourists. I also believe we can easily put content in the declaration that we signed this week. I met your minister, and not for the first time, and I see her enthusiasm. Between her and with our embassy in Tirana I believe we will find many ways to cooperate.

I hope peace will come soon to our region and Albanian tourists will feel safe to visit our holy sites, as well as our beautiful nature, culture, food, etc., and both our people will learn to know each other better. Good friendship should be between governments but also between the people.