Author: Denis Tahiri
"Difficult season, we are in the red so far", - this was the universal sentence that you heard throughout the Albanian Riviera during this unusual summer from businessmen who have invested in the tourism industry. You could hardly find a hotel on the south coast, where you could enter without first measuring the temperature, disinfecting your hands several times without also filling out the form, to see if you had symptoms of COVID-19.
Many customers canceled their reservations due to the pandemic and many others found it difficult to arrive in Albania due to restrictions on movement outside the borders.
Problems during this tourist season were also encountered by tourist structures that have been operating in the Albanian market for 17 years. " This year has been a very difficult year for business. I can describe it as one of the most difficult years in the 17 years that we have been operating in this market. First there was the earthquake, then the pandemic. The pandemic was a major problem, because at first we took it lightly, we thought it would only be the first months of the season, but it spread and has no end ," - says Mirjeta Ismaili, general manager at Hotel Bonita , for the Albanian Center for Quality Journalism.
In the absence of information on how they can act, the steps to enter the tourist season this year have been very small, as no one has known what will happen. This has caused the hotel structures to change their strategy, trying to attract as many customers as possible, who this summer, unlike other summers, were reluctant to make reservations.
" This has been a big problem, because, in addition to the prices we have changed, which are 30% lower compared to other years, we have not had the customer flow at the appropriate levels," says Mirjeta, who adds that contracts with foreign tourism companies have also been canceled.
Although Albania, like few countries, kept its borders open, the arrival of tourists, especially from the European Union, was hit hard due to its inclusion in the list of high-risk countries and the quarantine measures required after re-entry into EU countries.
And in these pandemic times, where nothing is certain, even the touristic structures, which during September and early November host students from Kosovo and other countries, do not have this reservation for sure.
" We usually went with the students at this time; we had 500-600 students, high school graduates from Kosovo who went on excursions, so from September until the end of November, but this opportunity has gone.
"So, from this moment on, we are going into the red again. It's not like last year at all, it's not even 10%, because two of what we call seasons, spring and autumn, where we operated with high school graduates, are completely ruined, there is no income from them ," says Mirjeta, who adds that during September, the staff reduction at the hotel she manages will also begin, as they can no longer afford to keep them working.
" Keeping them and not paying them is not logical. There is no work, so you are forced to keep a basic staff, and even that with effort, because you have no income whatsoever ," she concludes.
Warning and figures
Before the official start of the tourist season, there were warnings of a severe blow to the tourism industry. Albania was considered one of the countries that would suffer the most from the COVID-19 pandemic, with its economy expected to shrink by 5%, according to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and by up to 9% by the EBRD.
Meanwhile, Visual Capitalist , with data obtained from the World Tourism Organization, also compiled a map listing countries that have a high dependence on tourism, including countries where the tourism and travel industry contributed directly or indirectly to more than 15% of employment. Albania ranked 30th with an employment share of 22% in the country's economy. According to the report, the lack of a stable flow of tourism revenues would face many countries with severe effects on the economy. But, while the balance of the economic loss from the tourism industry has not yet been made, official figures for the first 6 months of 2020 may show a large loss.
According to INSTAT, in the first quarter of 2020, the utilization of the capacities of accommodation structures saw a decrease of 10,4% compared to the first quarter of 2019.
The number of nights of stay decreased by 9.4% compared to the same period of the previous year. Meanwhile, in the second quarter of 2020, the figures show an even greater decrease in visitors.
"The number of visitors has decreased by 75,6%, compared to the second quarter of 2019.
The number of net stays has decreased by 76,6%, compared to the second quarter of 2019", says INSTAT.
Summer from the point of view of tour operators
Besnik Vathi, who is a well-known name in Albanian tourism, acting for many years as a tourist operator, says that the impact on the tourism industry started before the pandemic came to our country.
"The uniqueness of this industry is that it suffered even before the pandemic arrived in our country. The blow in Albania began the moment the virus emerged, the fear of the spread of the virus began immediately with the emergence of the pandemic in China ," he says, adding, " We don't have an influx of tourists in the winter. With the beginning of spring, quarantine was imposed and 100% of all reservations that were planned for spring were canceled. As a spring period, it is also the moment when reservations are made for summer and the conditions we were in caused reservations for summer to be canceled as well."
In an interview with the Albanian Center for Quality Journalism, Vathi says that this is a difficult year for Albanian tourism and according to him, it could reach 20%-30% of last year's realization, these figures are quite low for a sector of the economy with a lot of weight. "A large part of the hotels have closed, agencies have closed, while 30%-40% of businesses may not have closed, but have reduced their activity to a minimum," he says.
The only sure thing that can be said is that the consequences of this year in tourism are not lacking, but will this affect the following years? Besnik Vathi says that it is not easy to predict how deep and serious these consequences will be for the next years.
"If a business is hit, suspended, closed or lays off employees, to regain the situation it had before the pandemic is not easy economically, as income is needed to put it to work, but also the laid-off employees may no longer be ready for that business, as they may have left the country, may have changed their profile, etc. "
Vathi adds that in these conditions it is very difficult to put them to work, always keeping in mind that we will return to a normal state with the release of the vaccine.
Besnik Vathi, regarding the number of people who rested this summer in Albania, says that he believes it is a smaller number than what is reflected in the media.
"I, unlike what is reflected in the media, have the impression that it is not true that more Albanians have vacationed in Albania. In total, they have vacationed less than in other years. So, it is not that Albanian tourism benefited from the closure, we all lost.", - he tells ACQJ , adding that some of those who vacationed abroad this year vacationed in Albania, while those who vacationed in Albania did not have the economic opportunity to go abroad or chose not to go on vacation due to fear of the pandemic.
Vathi says that the tourism sector should have been supported more by the government because, according to him, it was left in free fall.
"This sector after the opening was left in free fall and it was considered as if the blow was only with the closure in quarantine, despite the fact that we did not receive the blow in quarantine. Even during the quarantine, we were not obliged not to show up for work, but there was and is no activity".
He also states that in the recovery we will not be alone, but we will also be in competition with countries, which, not only consider tourism a priority as propaganda, but even do not consider tourism a priority at all, but we also take measures against countries that do not. they have it at all.
"For example, Germany is not a country known for tourism, but it has taken measures with salaries, donations, and various grants to get through the pandemic period. We, who prioritize it, have left it in free fall ," he says.
The measures that could have been taken to support this sector, according to Vathi, are numerous.
He emphasizes that these measures can be taken again and are related not only to employees, but also to business. "Business should have been supported with auxiliary measures, such as paying rent, installments of bank loans. The possibility of exempting one or two years from paying taxes and duties during the recovery should have been considered, so these would be direct measures," he says, adding that there are also countries that have applied very important indirect measures, such as Italy and France, which distributed holiday vouchers to citizens with low incomes, with the aim of using these vouchers in domestic tourism.
"So, that slogan, "Rest in Albanian" which was translated from "Rest in Italy", should have been translated in full, accompanied by those measures that were accompanied in Italy or France; and not just calling on the people to "Rest in Albania", as if these people were not born and were not Albanian and did not know Albania", - he concludes.
Lockdownand the tourists who were absent
With the spread of COVID-19, the whole world closed the borders and the movements outside them were only for specific categories of citizens, who felt it necessary to move. But the movement of people is one of the key elements of tourism. In Albania, the closing of the borders had major consequences in this sector.
Referring to the data from INSTAT, the arrivals of Albanians and foreigners in our country during the month of May were 46.488 people, a decrease of 94.4% compared to the month of May 2019.
At that time, INSTAT would report that: “ The number of foreign citizens entering our country during the first five months of 2020 is 602.300, decreasing by 60,0%, compared to the same period of 2019. During the first five months of 2020, Montenegro had the lowest decrease in the entry of citizens into Albania with 51,1%, while Poland had the largest decrease with 89,0%, compared to the same period of 2019. ”
But the decrease in the entry of Albanian and foreign citizens into Albania would continue during the month of June, where it would mark a decrease of 66.3% compared to June of 2019.
During June, 179,594 foreign citizens entered our country, a decrease of 71.5% compared to the same period a year ago. The foreign citizens who had the biggest drop were those from Poland, where compared to June 2019, 95.3% fewer Polish citizens entered the borders of Albania.
A similar situation occurred during July, where INSTAT announced that: "Entries of Albanian and foreign citizens to the Albanian territory in July 2020 are 663.980. Compared to July 2019, this indicator results in a 61,5% decrease.
In July 2020, the number of foreign nationals entering the Albanian territory was 387.716. Compared to July 2019, this number has decreased by 67,1%. During July 2020, the foreign nationals who preferred Albania the least were Spanish, marking a decrease of 88.6% compared to the same period in 2019.
In a year where every sector of the economy was hit, where the country's economy shrank due to restrictions in the battle against COVID-19, what is certain is that the tourism sector was hit more than any other. And while the pandemic that has conquered the world still has no end, the question that arises is what measures will be taken by the Albanian state to facilitate many economic sectors to cope with the blow received by the pandemic, but also their recovery in the face of competition small neighboring countries.
