According to the balance sheet of payments statistics published by the Bank of Albania, which measures the report of travel (expenditures made by foreigners in Albania and those made by Albanians abroad), expenditures of foreigners in Albania reached 687 million euros in the first 6 months of the year, with a decrease of 20%, or 167 million euros less, compared to January-June 2019, which so far holds the record as the best year so far for tourism.

Although tourism revived in the first half of this year, it still remains below pre-crisis levels. INSTAT reported that for the same period about 1.7 million foreign nationals entered the country, with a contraction of 21% compared to January-June 2019. The number of tourists from Kosovo increased to about 50%, from over 30% in the period when the movement was normal, somewhat amortizing the non-arrival of tourists from the countries of Western and Eastern Europe.

The data of the Bank of Albania show that the gap with the pre-crisis has started to narrow in the second quarter of the year, while the contraction was 11.6% in relation to the respective period, from 31% in the first quarter.

Summer has brought another panorama for tourism in the country, surpassing the 2019 level. The latest data from Tirana International Airport (TIA), where a significant part of tourists from Europe (except the region) come from, showed that for the period July-August 2021, a total of 983 thousand passengers travelled (entry-exit), with an increase of 21.3% compared to the same period of 2019, which so far had been the best year of tourism. While in relation to July-August 2020, when the country was suffering the consequences of the crisis, the enlargement is 76%.

Only in July, passenger traffic was 9.6% higher than in the same month 2019 (+ 70% with 2020), while in August the growth was stronger at almost 32% (+ 82% with the same month of 2020-s).

Only in the summer months of this year, European Union countries began to gradually lift travel restrictions for Albanian citizens. While in the first 6 months, the outflows of Albanian citizens were about 36% lower than the same period of 2019.

As a result, the expenditures of Albanians abroad have marked a significant contraction. They were about 400 million euros for the period January-June 2021, with a contraction of 43% compared to the first six months of 2019, or about 300 million euros less.

As a result of the higher inflows of foreigners, in relation to the outflows of Albanians, the net balance of travel, which means the currency remaining in Albania, improved significantly to almost 290 million euros, which is the best historical result since reported data in 2008-n.

Source: (Monitor)