Regional focus
Above: As the highest peak in central Albania, Tomor is a big draw for experiential tourists.
Previous page: Albania’s capital city of Tirana offers a vibrant destination that hotel organisations are gradually taking notice of.
fraction of Croatia’s 47 million according to the WTO’s Yearbook of Tourism Statistics. Nor is this hard to understand. With crumbling infrastructure and a dearth of investors, Albanian hospitality has found it hard to get noticed. But all of a sudden, things are changing. Offering tourists wonderful food, gorgeous mountains and a helmet full of history, Albania is suddenly a place worth visiting. That’s been clearest during the pandemic: as one of the few states not to impose a travel ban, Albania has seen tourists flock from across the Balkans and beyond. It goes without saying that hotel operators have jumped in too – starting a trend that could yet transform the country’s fortunes forever.
In from the cold Blerina Ago grew up on stories of the old Albania. Her parents lived through the Hoxhaist nightmare. “The state had absolute control, marked by repression, isolation and paranoia,” explains Ago, a tourism consultant and founder of travel company Active Albania. At the same time, Ago argues that Albania’s unique experience of communism left the country deeply unsuited to what came next. That’s even as Croatia and Slovenia – once part of Tito’s Yugoslavia, a dictatorship run on rather softer lines – eventually joined the EU and the euro. Certainly, using Albania’s past to explain its present
seems plausible, not least if you examine the state of the country’s infrastructure. With potholed roads being the norm, government statistics have found that one Albanian dies in an accident every day of the year. Nor have Albania’s airports historically been much better. Whenever he’s flown into Tirana’s Rinas International, Hylko Versteeg, the Southern Europe senior development director at IHG, says he’s often been left shocked at how small everything feels. Combine this with educational challenges (60% of Albanians speak only their mother tongue) and the constant spectre of pollution (over a quarter of deaths are related to environmental problems), and it’s perhaps unsurprising
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that Versteeg concedes that investment opportunities have traditionally been lacking. Yet speak to the experts for long and it’s clear things are changing. The numbers, in themselves, are striking. In 2019, after all, the WTO reported that Albania welcomed 6.4 million foreigners, while revenue from tourism peaked at $2.4bn, according to CEIC. That’s stalked by greater investment, with the government spending over a million dollars to create a Tourism Investment and Finance Fund. Hotel operators clearly sense opportunity knocking too. Radisson and Marriott are just two of the global firms to open properties in the country, while Versteeg and IHG are hard at work too. Nor are these varied developments particularly unusual if you appreciate everything Albania has to offer. Strategically located at the crossroads of the continent, Albania has hosted everyone from Byzantines to Ottomans. That mix gives Albanian architecture a cosmopolitan sparkle, from the mosques in Berat to Venetian towers at Durrës. This varied history has also shaped Albanian cooking. “You can practically smell the pizza wafting across the water from southern Italy,” says Ago, a point echoed by the Hungarian-inflected goulash or byrek from Turkey. Natural beauty is yet another draw. In the north, razor- tipped mountains tumble down into lakes the colour of topaz and sapphire. Along the coasts, yellow beaches embellish a gentle sea. Together with a welcoming culture, Ago says her small country boasts “almost everything nature, culture and heritage has to offer”.
Out with the old Looming behind the original 1979 building like a shadow, the InterContinental Tirana will boast around 300 rooms and suites, as well as a conference centre and ballroom. Examine the details and it’s clear that the InterContinental, due to open in 2025 under a franchise agreement between IHG and a local businessman, is different from what came before. That’s true, for instance, of the property’s luxury spa, complete with steam room and indoor swimming pool. Nor is the InterContinental, centrally located
on Tirana’s Skanderbeg Square, especially unique. On the contrary, Versteeg says the investment is of a piece with the country more broadly, noting that there’s “a lot of investment” across Albania as a whole. Listen to Versteeg and it’s hard to disagree. Focusing on his own company, he describes other IHG projects in the Land of the Eagles, notably a 140-room Crowne Plaza on the coast at Durrës. It’s a similar story for other international operators – Radisson recently unveiled the Morina, a glitzy hotel near the Grand Park of Tirana – and Hilton already has a Garden Inn in the capital and plans to open a branded property there as well. That’s shadowed by domestic growth too: Ago points out that domestic chains have lately increased their portfolio
Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
Active Albania
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