Foreign tourist arrivals to Albania have reached a record 10.4 million in the first ten months of the year, a 16.2% increase compared to the same period of last year, Tourism Minister Mirela Kumbaro said on Wednesday.

In October 2024 alone, foreign tourist arrivals increased by 9.3% compared to October 2024, to 761,000, Kumbaro said in a social media post.

The country has already surpassed the record number of foreign tourists who visited Albania for the whole year 2023. Foreign tourist arrivals to Albania rose 35% to 10.1 million in 2023, the ministry has said.

In April, Prime Minister Edi Rama said the government projects up to 30 million foreign tourists to visit the country by 2030.

A few days ago, it was the World Tourism Organization that in the Global Barometer ranked Albania first in Europe and second in the world in terms of the growth rate of international visitors. This same barometer classified Albania as the first in terms of the increase in income from the tourism sector compared to the pre-pandemic period.

Likewise, at the end of October, the well-known travel magazine "Wanderlust" awarded Albania the silver medal as the most desirable place to be visited by tourists, through a vote by British readers.