Over 12 million tourists visited Albania last year, most from Kosovo

Nearly half of the tourists who visited Albania last year were “patriotic vacationers.” Data from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports shows that out of about 12.4 million total visitors last year, nearly 6 million were from Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia.

"This shows that we are far from elite tourism, and at least for the moment we are at the point of quantity over quality. This despite the numerous investments that have been made, especially in the south of the country, but also in Durrës."

Despite visa liberalization, vacationers from Kosovo did not "betray" Albania. Data shows that last year, nearly 4.2 million Kosovo Albanians visited the country, a figure that is 384 percent of the total, writes A2 CNN.

"They continue to prefer Albania. not only Durrës and Shëngjin, which they consider their home, but also further south. Some of them have not come for vacation, but simply have a vacation, but have simply used Albania as a transit country," said Jetmira Hoxha, a tourism expert.

Germans, English, French and Dutch are the tourists with the highest growth last year, compared to 2024.

"They are permanent tourists who come 12 months of the year. Especially the Italian ones."

"One reason is the increase in flights, especially to Italy, from low-cost airlines. Cheaper tickets consequently increase the number of tourists," said Flora Xhamani Baba, a tourism expert.

More than 12 million tourists visited Albania last year. Data from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports shows that in 2024, foreign tourist arrivals increased by about 300 thousand.