Albania’s tourism has become more competitive during the last two years, according to the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019.
Compared to the last report in 2017, the country’s ranking improved by 12 positions (from 98th to 86th) out of the 140 countries reviewed.
The TTC report is published biannually by the World Economic Forum, a non-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. The WEF aims for the report to be used by policy-makers, companies and stakeholders for future developments in the tourism sector.
The report is compiled by analyzing data from the World Bank and the World Tourism Organization. It is mostly focused on factors affecting investments rather than countries’ attraction as tourist destination.
The 7-point competitiveness assessment is drawn from an index including the following three indicators: 1) legal framework; 2) enabling environment and infrastructure of doing business; 3) human, cultural and natural resources.
Albania’s tourism industry was estimated at 3.6 points (3.4 in 2017, 3.2 in 2013). Of the South-European countries, North Macedonia (3.4) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (3.3) are ranked behind Albania.
The rest of the region fared better: Greece (ranked 25th; 4.5 points), Croatia (27th; 4.5 points), Montenegro (67th; 3.9 points) and Serbia (83rd; 3.6 points).
A total of 91,500 people are employed in the Albanian tourism sector, which is estimated to have annual revenues of $1.9 million.
