Remote Albania mountains now drawing the tourists

THETH, Albania (Reuters Life!) - A century ago, a famed British travel writer fell in love with the rugged villages of traditional stone houses in northern Albania, a region she praised for its magnificent isolation.

Theth is just as rugged and pure today as when Edith Durham visited in 1909. Following a century of wars, Stalinist rule and economic turmoil, the villagers see its remoteness as a lure for foreigners seeking the thrill of escape.

Riviera at beach-bum prices

Steve McKenna takes his SPF 30 and sunnies to one of Europe's hidden coastal getaways.

WHAT Dhermi Hotel

WHERE Dhermi, Albania

HOW MUCH Rooms (sleeping up to four) from 3000 leke (about $40) a night.

WHY GO? If you can't afford to spend hundreds of euros a night mingling with the masses on Italy's Amalfi Coast, sunning yourself on the French Riviera or hopping around the Greek Islands, fear not.

Albania rids beaches of Cold War bunkers

SEMAN, Albania — Albania has wheeled in old tanks to rid its beaches of huge bunkers left over from the Cold War, when its paranoid communist regime feared an attack that never came.


Built in the 1960s, the concrete domes now pose a threat to the safety of the people they were meant to protect under the isolationist regime of late communist dictator Enver Hoxha.

"We have been forced to use T-59 tanks to remove from the beaches the very heavy fortifications damaged over time," says Sotir Zarka, mayor of the coastal municipality of Seman, some 120 kilometres (70 miles) south of Tirana.

"The bunkers have become a real nightmare for those who want to spend a few days on vacation here," says bar owner Petrit Ylli, pointing to his almost empty establishment.

At least five holiday-makers, including two children and a 25-year-old woman, drowned last summer in whirlpools created by streams around the bunkers which are covered by slime, cracked and damaged by erosion.

"In such conditions, they are a big danger to tourists. There have often been accidents," Zarka says.

The irony is not lost on Besnik Lasku, a former soldier charged with getting rid of the bunkers he once helped to put in place.

"The bunkers were meant to be able to resist everything, but the fortifications failed in their one and only battle -- against the sea," says Lasku.

"They were once a symbol of power, but nowadays those bunkers are only a testament to lost pride.

"Along at least two kilometres (1.2 miles) of the beach in Seman, the army is tasked with removing some 200 bunkers, all with sniper holes directed towards an enemy that never came," he adds with a wry smile.

The removal of the bunkers began at the beginning of July, and expectations that the T-59s, a Chinese version of a Soviet-era tank, could quickly complete the operation have failed to materialise.

Only seven bunkers were removed in the first two weeks.

"At this rate, the beach at Seman won't be ready before next year," Mayor Zarka laments.

"Our goal was to remove four bunkers a day, but we haven't even managed to take out one" on that basis, says Lasku.

On the beach at Seman, the difficulty of the task is clear.

Groups of men shout instructions at each other over the din of a T-59 engine, using gloves to attach cables for hauling the bunkers up from the shoreline.

The rusty tanks have been adapted for the operation, with their 12.7-millimetre barrels removed. They let off a thick cloud of smoke and groan under the strain.

"Because of the water and sand, the weight of a bunker is doubled, and cables are often broken, jeopardising the workers' lives," says Qemal Dervishi, 50, one of four tank drivers on the spot.

"Once they are pulled out of the water, the bunkers are broken up so that their transportation is easier."

But even that is a challenge.

"Specialists needed two years to make an 'ideal bunker' from concrete and iron that would be very strong and from which bullets would ricochet," the soldier says.

The first model of the bunkers was built in 1968 under the strict supervision of Hoxha. Eight years later, Albania's landscape was covered by some 700,000 bunkers connected by a network of thousands of tunnels.

The bunkers, constructed when Albania was obsessed about an attack by NATO or the Warsaw Pact, were designed to resist an invasion by an army of several million, according to officials.

Following the fall of communism in the early 1990s, Albanians were forced to live with them, as their destruction was very expensive at around 800 euros (1,130 dollars) each.

Almost 20 years later, the Balkan country formally joined the NATO military alliance in April.

Some Albanians have tried to remove them on their own, but their efforts usually end in vain, leaving them resigned to living with the structures they refer to as "mushrooms".

Some have converted them into sheds, toilets or even "zero-star hotels" for lovers, as they sometimes call the bunkers.(Briseida Mema / AT)

Albania’s Picture Postcard Beaches

Southern Albania’s dramatic coastline is yet untouched by the blight of modern tourism. Communism brought few benefits to the country, but it did spare the area, blessed with a sea, sand and mountains, from the ravages of package holidays.

While development is gathering pace, it’s still easy to stumble across beautiful sweeps of shoreline without a grey high-rise hotel in sight and devoid of tacky seafront roads filled with overpriced souvenir shops and hordes of sunburned tourists staggering from bar to kebab shop.

Instead, you can admire craggy peaks plunging into an impossibly turquoise sea, and relax along the riviera’s tranquil sandy beaches.

On a clear day, you can glimpse the outline of Corfu and other Greek islands, and enjoy the guilty please of schadenfreude, knowing that others are sweating it out in offices or ducking touts in better known, crowded resorts.

The beaches of Dhermi, or Drymades in Greek, 50km south of Vlora, combine rugged beauty with good quality, discreet accommodation, excellent seafood restaurants and a smattering of bars.

Situated down a dirt track off the ‘main road’ between Vlora and Saranda, you’ll find a peaceful stretch of sand with two bars and

Drymades Beach Resort, a collection of comfortable chalets in a small wooded area with a self-service restaurant.

Opposite the chalets is one of the most laid back and relaxing bars you’ll find anywhere on the planet.

You can enjoy a morning coffee before taking a few strides and dipping into the warm sea, while away the afternoon playing chess, or sip sublime cocktails as the suns sets.

An achingly cool blend of music also puts this venue head and shoulders above other watering holes in the area, which lean towards playing Euro club music at intolerable volumes. But there is ample space along the various beaches to avoid the din.

And if partying the night away isn’t your thing, the bar opposite Drymades Beach Resort usually places candles out on the sand, allowing you to relax with your drink and enjoy the star-lit sky.

A couple of good restaurants serving delicious seafood are a short drive away from the beach and are well worth the trip as the cuisine of the self-service restaurant is a little limited.

If you tire quickly of beachside activities, the attractive city of Saranda, the Roman ruins at Butrint and the beautiful, historic town of Gjirokastra are within easy reach by car.

Dhermi will undoubtedly become a major destination for tourist in the coming years. For those who enjoy their beach holidays served chilled, pencil in a visit soon.

Rooms at Drymades Beach Resort are 40 to 50 euro with breakfast. Booking is advisable in the summer and can be made by calling Tani on +355693646058. (Lawrence Marzouk / balkaninsight.com)

Saranda to Butrint Highway Construction underway

After the project was drawn and the tender was given to the construction companies "Gjikuria" and "Arti", work has started. The excavators digging in both sides to increase it from a national road to a 2 lane highway can be seen at the starting point called "Kanali i Cukes". The highway is planned to be ready for summer 2010. Butrint is located 14 kilometres south of Saranda.

To go for a visit in the antic city of Butrint from Saranda in southern Albania, the journey is an absolute nightmare, the road was built in 1959 for a visit by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and it hasn’t been touched again since.


Butrint it is increasingly becoming a popular tourist destination, attracting day-trippers from the nearby Greek holiday island of Corfu. Hydrofoils (30 minutes) and ferries (90 minutes) run daily between the New Port in Corfu Town and Saranda. Many visitors from Corfu use chartered coach services to visit Butrint from Saranda, which are often included in tickets to Albania from Corfu, and additionally, a regular public bus service runs between Saranda port and Butrint.

The road is a national road 14 kilometres long with one lane in each side which goes through the hills in a very picturesque area with rivers, lakes, lagoons and forests.

The area is in the top 5 most visited areas in Albania with more then half million visitors every year and now with the new road and easier to be accessed the number of visitors should be doubled by the end of next year.

After the collapse of the communist regime in 1992, the new democratic government planned various major developments at the site. The same year remains of Butrint were included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. A major political and economic crisis in 1997 and lobbying stopped the airport plan and UNESCO reclassified it as a "Site in Danger" because of looting, lack of protection, management and conservation.



The Albanian Government established the Butrint National Park in 2000. With the support of Albanian institutions and UNESCO and under the leadership of Auron Tare the first Director of the Park, the situation was improved to the point that UNESCO removed the site from the danger list by 2005. The National Park was also made a UNESCO World Heritage Site during these years as well as a Ramsar Site.

Butrint may yet provide a model of how local communities in developing countries can be empowered through the sustainable exploitation of cultural heritage. The Park Directorate ensured that the Park was able to establish an international position. In 2005 the Butrint National Park reopened the Museum which had been destroyed in 1997. The Butrint National Park has become an important educational resource. (Reporting for Albanian Times – Erind Kurti)

Albania to have direct flights to New York

The New York-based Scanderbeg Air Corporation said Monday it will start direct flights between New York and Albania this month.

A 214-seat Boeing 767-200ER will be used for the eight-and-a-half hour service from JFK Airport to the capital city of Tirana, starting June 14, the airline's executive director Petrit Ujkaj said.

The company will also start flights between New York and Pristina, Kosovo, June 16.

The carrier is targeting the Albanian Diaspora in the United States, and offering one-way fares starting at euro250 ($355).

"The alternative to high fares and lengthy travel times is at the top of the priority list aimed at growing the market," Ujkaj said. (Skanderbegair.com, businessweek.com, AlbanianTimes.com)

Montenegrin Property Prices Stay Firm

20 December 2007 Budva _ Property prices in Montenegro remain high despite a slow down in real estate sales along the coast.

According to estate agents in Budva, the highest prices for commercial premises are on Sveti Stefan island, where a property of 418 square metres was recently sold for €3.96 million.

Another agency has sold a 95 sq. m. unit with a garden in the old part of Budva for €1.1 million.

This summer, Montenegro, the small Adriatic republic which separated from Serbia in mid-2006, experienced a property boom.

Russians and West Europeans are competing to buy up villas and apartments, especially on the Adriatic coast in the area of Boka Kotorska and Budva.

Together with Croatia’s Adriatic resorts, the Montenegrin coast boasts the highest real estate prices in Southeast Europe, easily outstripping property prices in the smartest residential districts of the region’s capital cities.

Albania Shows Its New Face in Saranda

20 December 2007 Albania was bathed in mist and rain as my high-speed catamaran sped over the narrow straits dividing Albania and the port of Corfu. Was I making a terrible mistake in coming?

Minutes after arrival, I decided I hadn’t. As the boat pulled into Saranda harbour, the mist lifted dramatically and the sky turned from slate-grey to a cheering cobalt blue.

Even better, for less than the price of my small room in Corfu - where the view overlooked the hotel rubbish bins - I quickly secured a double bedroom in a hotel with a balcony overlooking the sea. And what a view it was. Saranda lies on one of the great natural bays of the Mediterranean, sweeping round in a natural protective arc.

The collapse of Albania’s heavy industry since the end of Communism has brought the infant tourist trade here one great benefit – the waters in which I dipped my toes shortly after booking into my hotel were as blue and clear as the sky above.

Saranda, as I discovered on my first walk-about, mirrors many of the changes transforming this once backward and isolated state.

This is an old town, as the ruins of an ancient synagogue, dating back to the Roman Empire, suggest. But until recently it was a small place.

A decade or two ago, Saranda consisted only of a few streets of two-storey buildings; a quite bolt-hole for communist apparatchiks to come and relax over their books on Marx.

Today it is a boomtown and the older low-rise streets are in danger of getting lost amidst the cranes and bulldozers flinging up one tower block after another.

The town has already stretched its legs right round the bay and beyond – a new Nice or Malaga by night, when the twinkling lights give out the illusion of wealth and prosperity.


By day it’s a different story, as Saranda reveals itself in all its rawness and tawdry imperfection – full of half-built hotels, broken pavements and potholed roads.

The infrastructure is visibly straining to cope with the giddying pace of expansion. At the same time, one wonders how the town can possibly fill the dozens of huge new concrete hotels crowding the skyline.

The investors - and money-launderers - behind the building boom doubtless have their eye fixed on the long term, hoping Saranda will follow in the footsteps of the resorts of neighbouring Montenegro, which have become the playgrounds of Europe’s fast set in the space of a few years.

While Saranda has any number of beer bars and restaurants on the sea front in which one can happily linger for an evening or two, the town’s attractions will not detain most visitors for long.

Like most visitors who haven’t just come ashore for a few hours from a cruise liner, I took a taxi to the most famous nearby attraction, the ancient ruined city of Butrint.

Lying half an hour’s drive to the south near the Greek border and within a national park, this is very different landscape of untouched grassland, marshes, mountains and lapping water.

A handful of villages dot the horizon, reflecting the different faiths and civilizations that overlap in this borderland. An Orthodox village lies on the top of one hill, a Catholic on another and a Muslim village
on a third.

Butrint itself is one of the wonders of Mediterranean Europe; a sprawling city that fell victim to the Slav invasions of the Balkans back in the 6th century.

Lying far from other urban settlements, its stones were not hauled away after the city was deserted, which is why so much of it remains intact – a stage from which the actors have silently and mysteriously departed.

I spent hours wandering around the leafy and overgrown Roman and Byzantine columns, arches, wells and walkways, spooked by the eerie silence of a place that centuries ago had been a bustling, lively port.

Butrint is impressive example of fruitful collaboration between foreign and local expertise and money; the site is managed by the Albanian authorities with the assistance of the London-based Butrint Foundation. I could not help comparing its pristine state with the dismal-looking Roman sites I had seen in other parts of the Balkans, where governments and local authorities have all but given up any serious pretence at managing the sites and have virtually abandoned them to treasure-hunters.

But touring the ruins - and looking for the otters that apparently frolic in the waters flowing round Butrint (I didn’t see any) – was thirsty work. So I was glad that as I left site I was able to refresh myself in the Livia restaurant, by the gate, downing a cool beer and a plate of chicken grilled in lemon and butter.

The world has yet to discover Saranda, Butrint and the rolling hills of southern Albania, though its only a few minutes – and a handful of euros - from the packed tourist resort of Corfu, from where there are daily
flights in summer to dozens of European cities.

Soon, no doubt, the crowds will come. Go now and taste the air of mystery that hasn’t quite lifted from Albania - much like the mist I saw enveloping Saranda as my catamaran sped in from Greece, that first
day I arrived.

Info Box

Marcus Tanner went to Butrint on Petrakis Lines ferries. Price about 15 euros each way. Two sailings each way daily. Buy tickets directly at Corfu port for cheapest prices.

Butrint foundation: www.brutintfound.dial.pipex.com

Marcus stayed at Hotel Porto Eda www.portoeda.com rooms from 33 euros a night in low season to 50 euros in summer.

(BIRN)

ALBANIA - Israel welcomes more tourists from Albania

167 representatives from Albania visited Israel to discover attractive tourism spots in the State of Israel.

Tourism Ministry continues promoting the tourism to Israel in different countries around the world. After a recently signed agreement with China, Albanian delegation of politicians, public figures and press representatives came for a visit this week.

Few tourists from Albania arrived to Israel in the last years, around 200 people per year. This time, Albania will be part of the NIS 200 Million (equivalent of USD 52 Million) budget for 2008 which aims to market various tours to Israel, underlined Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Tourism Minister.

Albania is a country in Southeastern Europe with a population of approximately 4 Million people. Albania is situated on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, with Montenegro and Serbia to the north, Macedonia to the east, and Greece to the south. The country is composed of mostly with a mountainous highland region in the north, east, and south. As for the rest of its territory, western coastal lowland region contains most of the Albanian population and it is also a land for most of agricultural activity. (Israel Times)


Help Invalid People In Albania

Albanian road renovations to spur economic growth, tourism

Communism and the long years of transition have left Albania with a far from adequate road infrastructure. Major efforts are under way, with the help of international donors, to improve the situation.

Albania has become a construction site. The Balkan country is making a major push to improve its road infrastructure, after decades of isolation and a long period of transition. The former communist regime left it with a poor road and highway system. In the 17 years since democracy was restored, the infrastructure still not has been brought up to European standards. With the country aspiring to join the EU, this has to change.

In all, Albania has roughly 18,000km of road, of which 3,636km are national roads. Over the last several years, the government has invested in national highways running east-west and north-south. According to Finance Minister Ridvan Bode, of the $800m earmarked for public investments next year, the majority will go towards improving roads.

One of the main projects that is currently under way is the construction of the Durres-Kukes-Morine Highway. It starts in Durres -- the main Albanian port, 35km from Tirana -- and ends in Morine, more than 200km northeast of the capital. The project, which also includes a 7km-tunnel, is being implemented by the Turkish-US consortium Bechtel-Enka.

Currently, it takes up to six hours to reach Kukes from Durres. The new, 170km road will be a connection point with Kosovo. After it is completed, the estimated travel time will be only two hours.

"The objective is to improve traffic flow, reduce transport costs and contribute to a reduction in the rate of accidents," transport ministry sources say.

In September, however, the project found itself at the centre of a heated political debate, as several high officials connected to it were arrested on corruption charges. Deputy Transport Minister Nikolin Jaka, Director General of Roads Bashkim Kamberi and junior officials at the transport ministry stand accused of rigging tenders.

Most of those arrested belong to the Christian Democratic Party, a junior member of Prime Minister Sali Berisha's ruling coalition. With prosecutors saying they also wish to question Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha -- whose former post was at the transport ministry -- the scandal could reach the highest levels of the current administration.

The scandal hasn't halted construction, and the highway is still expected to be finished by 2009.

Early this month, Berisha was in the United States, where he received fresh pledges of World Bank support. In particular, the Bank has promised to back an upcoming secondary roads scheme, as well as the Durres-Morine Highway.

"We see this project [Durres-Morine] as very important both for Albania and Kosovo," the World Bank Director of the Southeast Europe Country Unit, Orsalia Kalantzopoulos, said.

Another priority item is Albania's section of Corridor 8, one of ten Trans-European Corridors intended to facilitate the exchange of goods, people, oil and other energy supplies among the EU, the Balkan states and central Asia. In addition to promoting economic and commercial development, it is hoped that these Corridors will help improve stability in a region that has long been troubled.

Corridor 8 connects the Adriatic and Black seas. It starts at the Italian ports of Bari and Brindisi and ends in Burgas and Varna in Bulgaria. Along the way, it passes through Durres, Tirana, Skopje and Sofia. Three sections are now under construction in Albania -- Librazhd-Qafe Thane, Lushnje-Fier and Levan-Vlore.

The government is also intent on moving ahead with a north-south highway. Sometimes referred to as the Adriatic-Ionian highway, it will form part of a larger regional highway connecting Croatia with Greece, via the coast. Albania is constructing three segments: Levan-Tepelene, Tepelene-Gjirokaster and Shkoder-Han i Hotit.

"These are the segments which will get the main funds from the budget. With a new strategy we aim to speed up the investment's rhythm for the period 2007-2008," Bode said.

Officials say the major projects -- Durres-Morine, Corridor 8 and the Adriatic-Ionian -- should be largely complete by 2010. At that point, Albania will have an estimated 759km of highway linking it with its neighbours.

Besides the World Bank, international donors involved in the rehabilitation of Albania's road network include the EU, the EBRD, the Central European Initiative, the Italian, American, Albanian and Greek governments, the European Investment Bank and the Bank of Kuwait.

Roads are not the only major infrastructural issue Albania has to deal with. Albanians would like to see it become a tourist destination and capitalize on its potential as one of the undiscovered countries of Europe. However, this requires an upgrade in facilities. Electricity is shifty and hotels are in short supply.

Visitors to the country do, at least, receive an impressive welcome. A completely redesigned Tirana International Airport was finished in March. The new terminal, with its sophisticated architectural design, has the capacity to process more than a million passengers annually. The terminal not only sets a new standard in terms of performance and functionality, but also in terms of architecture in Albania, and represents a special contribution to the urban renewal of the city.

Kukes airport is expected to open in early 2008, making it the second civilian airport in Albania. Earlier this year the Italian government promised that it would help rebuild the airport in Gjirkoastra. The airport will function in both a civilian and military capacity.

Currently, there are two feasibility studies being conducted for airports in Vlora and Korca. A plan for an airport at Saranda has been completed, but so far there is no known investor willing to put in money.

According to Toronto's Globe and Mail, Albania currently accounts for only 0.1% of tourism in Europe. It may be years before the country can significantly improve that figure, though the needed steps are finally being taken. Meanwhile, those who do come are getting a glimpse of treasures that someday may be more widely known.

Tourists flock to Southeast Europe for holidays

Tourism is a key component of Southeast European economies. While Greece and Turkey have long been magnets for visitors, post-transition countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia and Macedonia are looking to maximize their potential.

Each summer, the images shown on the national evening news are the same -- cars queuing at the Croatian border, waiting to continue their trip to the coast. The reporters can barely contain their excitement. The queues are 8km long, they exclaim. All the border crossings are open and being used to capacity.


Then we hear what the tourists have to say: they are tired and did not expect to run into such severe congestion and so many customs formalities. The influx is similar at airports, seaports and train stations. At times, it seems as though Croatia's population doubles during July and August.

Throughout Southeast Europe, tourism is a vital industry, holding out the promise of economic growth and prosperity. The region is unusually wealthy in terms of potential tourist attractions, from coastlines to mountain ranges and historical or cultural sites. And the tourists are coming. As the Balkans finally emerge from the post-communist transition and the violence of the 1990s, countries such as Croatia and Bulgaria are beginning to challenge established destinations such as Greece and Turkey for market share.

Croatia has set its sights on becoming a European tourism superpower. It has opened up to foreign investors and hotel chains that would like to get in on the action. With five star accommodations, yacht rentals, golf courses, scuba lessons and plush apartments overlooking the Adriatic, the country is on the map for elite tourism.

At the same time, the tourism authorities seek to attract visitors who are looking for a reasonably priced destination with a friendly atmosphere. The official tourism slogan invites visitors to come experience "the Mediterranean as it once was". A potential challenge for the future will be to preserve this kind of experience while also catering to the high rollers.

Although the influx of visitors pumps money into the economy, it also creates difficulties for locals. Many residents of Dubrovnik have trouble coping with the dramatic increase in prices during peak season. Drinking a coffee on the town's main street costs about as much as in the French Riviera. As a result, locals are starting to feel excluded from their own way of life. In the summer, it is simply impossible to find a parking place in Dubrovnik, and locals mostly avoid going to restaurants and clubs during the season.

Bulgaria is another ex-member of the communist world that is now trying to maximize its potential for tourism. According to Bulgaria's State Agency for Tourism (SAT), nearly 3 million foreign tourists visited the country between January and July this year -- up about 4.5% compared to the same period last year. The number of foreigners who visited the Balkan country – now a member of the EU -- during the whole of 2006 exceeded 5 million people.

More than 70% of those who visited the Balkan country in the first six months of 2007 were from other EU member states, with Greeks, Romanians, Germans and Brits topping the list. Meanwhile, the number of tourists from Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia has dropped significantly.

Like Croatia, Bulgaria has been going after the big revenues provided by elite tourism. Hundreds of hotels have been built along the Black Sea coast in recent years, including five-star facilities at the major resorts, such as Albena, Golden Sands and Sunny Beach. The Kempinski Grand Hotel Hermitage at the Golden Sands and the Kuban Hotel at Sunny Beach also attract visitors with their casinos.

At the same time, the country remains affordable to budget travellers. The same resorts offer plenty of 3-star and 4-star hotels. Indeed, the country probably offers too much of everything at the moment. Over-construction has led to supply outweighing demand in some places, threatening financial problems for investors.

By and large, high-end tourism has not yet come to neighbouring Macedonia, despite the Balkan country's stunning natural beauty. So far it is mostly a destination for travellers keen on exploring new places, or those with particular interests such as religion or sports. This year, UNESCO-protected Lake Ohrid hosted 250,000 tourists, with 1,100,000 overnight stays, but these were mostly from within Macedonia.

Most would agree that the country has yet to promote itself effectively. Nevertheless, between 2002 and 2006, the sector saw growth of between 6% and 9%, and the trend is expected to continue. A milestone was achieved in March when Aquapura, a Portuguese company, announced plans to build a 50m-euro elite resort at Lake Prespa. The lake thus joins a list of Aquapura resorts that also includes Brazil, Mexico, Tuscany, Budapest, Prague and Portugal's Douro River.

Macedonia's southern neighbour, Greece, has long been a magnet for world tourism, though its appeal has changed somewhat over the years. Decades ago, it was inexpensive and a little on the raw side -- a haven for backpackers, student travellers and the adventurous. Facilities tended to be underdeveloped and the attraction among high-end visitors somewhat limited.

All that has changed. Although the opportunities for shoestring travel can still be found, the country these days is anything but inexpensive. The islands and other popular sites are crowded with glitzy bars, discos and resorts. Tourism is an economic powerhouse for Greece, with the sector accounting for 20% of the GDP and one out of every five jobs.

This year has been a record in terms of tourism arrivals and revenues, despite the summer fires that swept through the country in late August, during peak season. "More than 17 million visitors will have visited our country by the end of the year, and we are already working to break this year's record in 2008," said Greek Minister of Tourism Development Fani Palli-Petralia. Despite the trauma of August, no major resorts or tourist facilities have reported mass cancellations, the minister said.

That is welcome news for a country that suffered severe damage in other sectors. Around 184,000 hectares of vegetation burned in the fires. At least at least 1,500 houses were destroyed, along with 72,000 animals and more than 4.5 million olive trees. Government estimates of the losses range between 1.5 billion and 1.7 billion euros, while some experts quoted by the press put the figure at 3 billion euros or more.

Across the Aegean, meanwhile, tourism in Turkey continues to roar ahead. The number of visitors increased more than 16% in the first seven months of this year. Around 13 million foreign tourists visited the country, according to official data. The country's most popular resort, Antalya, hosted 5.5 million visitors in the first eight months of the year. Germans continue to make up the largest group, followed by Russians.

More than 700,000 tourists visited Istanbul -- Turkey's largest cultural, historical and business centre -- in August alone. Formerly the capital of Byzantium and then the Ottoman Empire, the city charms visitors with its museums, palaces, mosques, churches and bazaars.

Following the visit of Pope Benedict XVI last year, the town of Selcuk has found itself on the tourist map, with the number of visits increasing by about 30% in the first seven months of the year. Selcuk has many historical remains of early Christianity, including a house which many believe to have been visited by the Virgin Mary, and Ayasoluk Hill where St John wrote his Gospel. (Setimes)

Cement plants worry Albania opposition, greens

TIRANA, Oct 6 (AlbanianTimes) - Prime Minister Sali Berisha came under fire on Tuesday for approving cement plants his opponents say will violate environmental norms, pollute the capital and destroy forest the country cannot afford to lose.

The opposition Socialists said cement plant contracts by Greece's Titan and a Spanish firm were presented to parliament without technical details and would allow the felling of 260 hectares of trees.

"I want to know what is the pollution quota you have agreed with the companies and what is the EU pollution quota," Socialist lawmaker Erion Brace asked Berisha.

The prime minister said his conservative Democratic Party had inherited from its Socialist predecessor an "environment in the worst condition possible" and would take painful decisions to respect it.

He denied the contracts in question were negotiated by the law firm run by his daughter and said European Union pollution norms would be respected.

The environment of post-communist Albania has suffered over the past 16 years from waves of wildcat construction, the collapse of Communist-era mega-factories and state farms, and an explosion in motor vehicle owernship.



PRISTINE COAST

The air is polluted by emissions far higher than in the EU and water can be contaminated with sewage. Urban waste and industry old and new pose problems. But the country has miles of pristine Adriatic coast and mountain wilderness.

Environmentalists have been waging a campaign for years to stop the building of an energy park on the Adriatic coast in the southwestern area of Vlore, claiming concentration of a pipeline terminal, a thermal plant and oil deposits would kill tourism.

Berisha initially opposed the projects launched by his Socialist predecessor Fatos Nano, and since coming to power has tried to find a middle way by moving some of the projects up north. Work on the power plant has begun.

Brace told Reuters he believed the three cement plants. due to be built near Fushe-Kruje some 25 kms (15 miles) north of the capital Tirana, would create a health hazard for more than one million people.

Environmentalist Lavdosh Ferruni said it would be "a crime against the environment to cut the forests of Fushe-Kruja", which Environment Minister Lufter Xhuveli had wrongly described as "degraded". (Reuters)

Wild Beauty Wins Award for Montenegro

06 10 2007 Podgorica_ The Montenegro tourism promotion video “Experience Wild Beauty” has won third prize at the international festival of tourism films “Tourfilm 2007” in Karlovy Vary.

The video, which is broadcast on the global TV network CNN, was one of 775 films from 138 countries competing for a prize.

The jury said that in 53 seconds, the film's duraiton, all the dramatic shifts of Montenegro's natural beauty and tourism diversity were shown effectively.

“This award will, without doubt, improve the image and position of Montenegro in the international market,” the Montenegrin National Tourism Organization said in a statement. “Hundred millions of people around the world are being introduced to Montenegro's wild beauty through CNN, Euronews and the Travel Channel.”

The video “Experience Wild Beauty” was produced by AMC Communications from Budva; the script was written by Stevan Koprivica and the film was directed by Andrej Korovljev.

The festival in Karlovy Vary, which has a 40-year tradition, is one of the most prestigious in the field of tourism promotion films. (Birn)

German Tourist Survey on Montenegro

Podgorica_ Poor roads, a high crime rate and uncomfortable hotels are just some of the perceived problems that discourage German holidaymakers from visiting Montenegro, according a new survey.

The report, compiled by the Munich Institute for Leisure Economics, also contained fears about complicated entry regulations, the language barrier and rubbish in the streets.

It was based on interviews with more than 3,000 Germans who regularly take holidays in Europe, only two-thirds of whom were aware of Montenegro’s location on the map.

The results of the survey show that Germans aged 50 and above tend to be more interested in Montenegro.

They were, in the main, people with secondary or university education, and having average monthly incomes of €2,000-5,000.

Among those polled, only Turkey was considered less safe than Montenegro.

On the other hand, Montenegro came first on the list of destinations with an unspoilt nature, and third for its mild climate, friendly people and low prices.

It is also the country where terrorist attacks are considered the least likely, while the riskiest destinations are Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey and Spain.

“Montenegro is not properly presented on the German holiday market, and we propose changing the situation through regular and positive reports, high-quality offers, campaigns and manifestations”, the Institute’s staff said.

The survey was conducted at the request of the Montenegrin National Tourism Organization (NTO).
Its manager, Danica Ceranic, said on Wednesday that the NTO “is satisfied with the results of the survey, and will try to inform the German people about some misconceptions they have about Montenegro”.

“For example, they need just two or three minutes to enter Montenegro, as they do not even need passports, just ID cards”, said Ceranic. (Birn)

"Cyclopean" walls discovered in northern Albania

Looking to get it away from it all? Consider Albania. An archaeology team reports that the mountains of northern Albania, perhaps the most remote place left in Europe, have been a hide-out for a surprisingly long time.

A leader of the expedition, archaeologist Michael Galaty of Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., reports on this summer's expedition now that he's back from to the Shala Valley in northern Northern Albania's mountains, the tail end of the Alps.

Archaeologists searching the mountains of northern Albania for traces of Ottoman-era fugitives were surprised to find something much older: the ruins of a Bronze Age fortress, dating from around 800 BC. The walls were made of boulders assembled without cement, using the "Cyclopean" technique found in the ancient Greek kingdom of Mycenae.

According to Michael Galaty, the US researcher who led the expedition, the discovery shows that the area, one of the most remote in Europe, has been in use for thousands of years. At the time the fortress was built, Illyrian kingdoms were active along the Adriatic Coast, while Greece was emerging from the ancient Dark Ages.

"Some five hundred years ago, people came here fleeing the Ottoman empire. We expected to find what they left behind," Galaty says. Perched on a promontory near the village of Grunas (Groo-NAS) are the remains of walls, which the team initially assumed were from a hideout left over from the 1500's, a time when exiles repopulated the region, on the lam from the new empire.

However, a little digging on a 2006 expedition revealed something wrong with the walls. They were too old and some were made of "cyclopean" stone, boulders roughly fitted together without any mortar, a style associated with the Bronze-Age Greek Kingdom of Mycenae. Instead of a medieval hidey-hole, the team had unearthed the remains of a fortress from the Bronze Age, some time around 800 B.C., as indicated by a radiocarbon date and the pottery and stone tools left behind there.

"For whatever reason, it turns out people have been fleeing to this valley for about 3,000 years," Galaty says. The find is particularly interesting for a few reasons, he adds. Around 800 B.C., the shift from Bronze Age to Iron Age had started in the region of Europe north of Greece. The ancient Greeks were emerging from a long Dark Age that had lasted for several centuries and were tangling with Illyrian kingdoms on the Adriatic coast, just downhill from mountainous northern Albania.


Albanians

The Illyrians were one of the classic pains-in-the-necks of in the classical world. Their pirates were denounced by the Romans, who routed them on the way to conquering the Mediterranean around, in a long-running fight that concluded around 160 B.C. Was the fortress of Grunas some sort of redoubt against these ruffians of the high seas in the ancient world, or part of their kingdom, Galaty and his colleagues wondered.

This summer, with help from the National Science Foundation and others, Galaty's team went back to uncover the story of who owned the fortress of Grunas. To their surprise, they uncovered at least five buildings (two of them stone), mud-plastered houses for a more than a dozen people, the foundations of a pair of look-out towers, a gate and huge terraces. Galaty believes a few hundred people likely lived in the fortress, whose age was confirmed by chemical analysis of the pottery shards found in the foundations. "Somebody put in a lot of time and effort to build walls up there," he says, noting the terrace walls were several feet thick and reached more than 15 feet high in places.

Drilling about 2,000 auger holes in the terraces atop the hilltop, the team determined that people have been leaving behind waste at the site since at least about 1,000 BC. And they found the terraces were carefully engineered in place, a common practice in the classic Greek world, but unknown in northern Albanian sites.

Although the team members, who included Ols Lafe of the Albanian Institute of Archaeology and Zamir Tafilica of Albania's Shkodër Historical Museum, are still deciphening who lived in Grunas, much of the pottery they have uncovered appears to originate from farther further south of Albania in the early Iron Age, towards the Illyrian coast. The Shala Valley may have held folks trading with the Illyrians, if not hiding from them, Galaty suggests. "History repeats itself, after all."

The next invasion might not be pirates or empire-builders, he adds, but skiers, attracted by snows that regularly leave people snowed in during the height of winter and a slowing of hostilities in Kosovo. "If they put in a paved road to the valley, it will be all over," says Galaty. "It's just too beautiful a place to be hidden forever."

ALBANIA: Forget Communism...or Sell It

TIRANA, Aug 17 (AlbaniaPost) - Bunkers? Underground catacombs? Submarine bases? Albania has been shaped by one of the most bizarre communist regimes ever and the potential to exploit it for tourism is inestimable.

The possibilities for what has been termed as 'communist heritage tourism' are present, but as with other post-socialist countries in the region, the attempt at creating a communist-free national identity since the 1990s is in conflict with Western tourists' increasing interest in remnants of the communist past.


"If there are people interested just in these 50 years of history, why not offer it?" says Nevila Popa, business development specialist for USAID in Albania. While it remains a niche market, some, as Gent Mati from the tourism agency Outdoors Albania, confirm "there is interest for this paranoid, psychotic regime."

Several monuments suffered destruction at the hands of angry crowds when state socialism collapsed, but much remains for the curious eye.

"We have so many elements of communism that it is unavoidable; anywhere we drive you see the signs," Mati told IPS. "It's an integral part of Albanian history and more constantly present than other monuments you would have to seek."

On arriving in capital Tirana it becomes obvious that the architecture of socialism dominates the urban landscape. A visit to the National Historical Museum, itself an example of socialist realist art, will suffice to grasp just how much weight communism had in Albania's recent history.

Communism came to Albania in 1944, and relations with other socialist states were normal up until 1961, when the country's leader, Enver Hoxha, broke with the 'revisionist' Soviet Union and decided to draw closer to China.

Hoxha imitated the concept of 'cultural revolution' from China, but the alliance lasted only until 1978, when Beijing normalised relations with the United States and angered Tirana. Albania decided to go its own, nationalistic and still Stalinist way, resulting in complete isolation and even harsher economic conditions.

The political isolation made the regime paranoid, the most telling example of this being the building of around 750,000 bunkers between 1974 and 1986 to protect Albanian citizens from what Tirana perceived as a hostile international environment.

The engineer who designed them was said to be so confident of their indestructibility that state officials had a bunker tested against rockets with the designer himself inside. The engineer survived, and mass production of bunkers commenced.


These are now one of the trademarks of the Albanian landscape. Some, mostly Albanians, think the bunkers spoil Albania's beautiful countryside, whereas others, mostly foreigners, see in the mushroom-like structures a chilling but fascinating sign of an obscure political history.

What is undeniable is that Albania's bunkers, whose concrete could have solved much of Albania's housing problems, are omnipresent: outside cities and towns, on mountain slopes and hills and on the seaside, in varying sizes. They are mostly abandoned, and used as public toilets, waste containers or lover hideouts.

Yet some have been given a more creative function: a few concrete structures have been covered with psychedelic pink and purple motifs following an initiative of the culture ministry.

In the coastal resort of Durres, less than an hour's drive from Tirana, bunkers have been re-interpreted in a more commercial fashion, and now serve refreshments to sun and water bathers.

Yet some of the attractions of the potential communist heritage tourism are not as ubiquitous, and one will literally have to sink deep to find them.

"The ministry of defence is being lobbied to open unused military bases, some of which are at very beautiful places, and which could be restored at museums," Mati told IPS.

One of these places is the bay of Palermo, on Albania's southern shore, where a former Soviet submarine base, now abandoned, is begging for visitors. The World Bank, in cooperation with the ministry of tourism, is already on the case trying to open up the infrastructure for tourism.

The base is carved on a cliff in the idyllic bay, which also happens to be one of the most attractive spots for unspoiled Mediterranean swimming.

Another possibility involves the medieval catacombs under the southern Albanian city Gjirokaster, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Site.

The catacombs were adapted by communist officials for use by the party leadership or in case of war, and they remain closed to the public. Within the dozens of rooms connected by its corridors, some communist era objects such as generators, tables, and nameplates survive.

"The complex was intended to survive a nuclear attack," David Bragg, working on tourism promotion in Gjirokaster for the humanitarian organisation Peace Corps told IPS. "If you find the right route, it would make a really neat tourist attraction." (END/2007)(IPS, Albania Post, Albanian Times)

Revenues per tourist Albania highest in the World

A high percentage of business travellers and returning expatriates may be the reason for Albania's first-place ranking in a World Tourism Organisation list.

Albania earns more per tourist than any other country in the world, according to the World Tourism Organisation. Since the country's economy and its tourist industry are not fully developed, the ranking is somewhat unexpected.

"Albania earns more for each tourist that is entering the country, compared to other countries". "In fact, even if it might sound strange and it might surprise you, there are states in the world like Moldova, Lebanon and Belarus that earn more from tourism than paradise islands that have duty free systems.

"This could happen because here the visitors are mainly businessmen and in the countries where there is inappropriate infrastructure the costs are higher".

“I agree that most of the tourists from Albania come here for business and as a result they spend more than the normal tourists. But isn't it strange that the amount of money from tourists visiting Albania is three times the amount in any other country?"

Writing at shekulli, meanwhile, Thano takes stock of a recent political milestone in the country -- the election of a new head of state.

"Bamir Topi is the new president of small Albania," he notes. "We have to say that the new president has a big complex hanging over his future political behaviour because he is the product of an agreement. It is up to him to show us if he can overcome this complex … if he will have the will and strength to act as he thinks and not as dictated by Sali Berisha, the head of his political party and the country’s prime minister."

Marko comments: "Don't we have to give the president some time to show us who he really is? He needs support. At least what he can't find in the politicians he can find in the 'free press' and in the Albanian society – which wants a president of the new type, apolitical and independent of everybody."

Albania comes in from the cold as Europe's last tourism frontier

A holiday on the Albanian Riviera might sound like a Borat-style joke, but the area boasts beautiful empty coves, inexpensive beach huts and welcoming locals

It's the middle of summer, I'm on a beautiful beach in the Ionian, and I can't see a single person. In the distance I can just about trace the path of the occasional car swinging down the mountain road like a slow-motion marble run, but that's it. I can't help giggling. I don't know what's more surprising - that there is 80km of "undiscovered" coast in southern Europe, or that it's in Albania.

Europe's Mediterranean coast has been done. Spain, France, Italy, Croatia. Even Montenegro, the world's newest country, was heaving when I visited this summer; the Rolling Stones played there a few days after I left. Much of Turkey's coast has been packaged, and don't get me started on Greece. Sure, you can get away from the hordes, but how far?

To reach the Albanian Riviera, one of the most spectacular strips of land in Europe, the small price to pay is a bit of a sore bum. The bus that plies the single road down the coast leaves at 6am from a car park in Tirana littered with imported German coaches, some of which still bear the name of their original destination - one claims to be headed for Wilhelmstrasse. I board mine and fall into a semi-sleep that is regularly interrupted by heavy lurches and bumps. Barely touched since the Italian army built it in the 40s, the coastal road is pockmarked and cracked.

The state of the road is the main reason the Albanian Riviera - from Vlora to Saranda - has escaped large-scale tourist development. Even the Albanians tend not to bother with it, preferring resorts such as Durresi, easily reached from Tirana via a relatively bump-free motorway.

The Riviera begins at the peak of the 1,000m-high Llogara Pass, the road careering wildly down the slope. I jump off the bus in the tiny village of Dhermi, made up of about 100 terracotta-roofed houses scattered either side of the road, suspended halfway up the mountain range that continues south over the Greek border and beyond.
There is one hotel here, fronted by a boring-looking, low-rise mini-complex. The owner can tell I'm disappointed. He loads my backpack on to his truck, and drives me through dense olive groves and pine trees to the seafront, where I can see a collection of double-decker huts clad in pine. Much more like it. For US$40 a night, each hut has a double bed, a toilet and shower, and wardrobes. It isn't luxury, but it certainly isn't slumming it.

I count 14 people on the beach. Few foreign tourists come here, so it only fills up when the locals arrive at weekends. The coast stretches for a kilometer or so before curving out towards a shrubby headland. I feel blissfully alone. In the hotel's open-air restaurant, the waiter just about speaks Italian, which I just about understand, and I end up with a huge sea bass, Greek salad, and chips. I ask him where the fish came from, and he points to a man drinking by the bar. I retire to bed stuffed, where I can hear the waves brushing the shore, and a lone cricket up past its bedtime.

The next day I'm back on the bus for a 20-minute journey to the pebbly cove at Jaal, which again is virtually empty. I count 11 people. There are a few crumbling villas behind the beach, but accommodation options for visitors consist of a collection of beach huts at the base of the mountain. I meet a couple of German backpackers - the only non-Albanians I encounter - who plan to pitch their tent on the beach.

The Germans and I board the bus the next day, and the road brushes the sea for a few kilometers before arriving in Qeparo, where we sit outside a cafe as old men argue over a game of cards next to us. We have a lunch of fresh bread, creamy white cheese, sweet tomatoes, and oddly sized cucumbers; they are shaped so because everything in Albania is organic - fertilizers and pesticides are too expensive. And because of the unreliable roads, anything you eat on the Riviera is sure to be local.

The cafe's owner wanders over and we explain that we are looking for a hotel, but Alex says we can stay in his villa half way up the hill. He and his wife sleep in the back of the shop, a habit they acquired when riots swept the country in 1997 after the collapse of the pyramid investment schemes in which most of the country lost money.

By the close of the year the troubles had subsided, marking the end of seven years of political chaos triggered by the collapse of Albania's communist regime in 1990. Ten peaceful years later, Alex is renovating the upper story of his villa for his family to move back into, keeping the rooms on the ground floor for visitors.
He insists on driving us a few kilometers back up the coast to visit the deserted Ali Pasha fortress which juts out into in the Bay of Palermo. Back at the beach in Qeparo we sit under shelters made from branches and thatch looking out over the sea towards the peaks of Corfu, just visible in the distance.

The beach is dotted with Albania's ubiquitous bunkers, some of the estimated 700,000 concrete epitaphs to Enver Hoxha's paranoid rule that are scattered across the country. The bunkers, here playfully painted with pink and blue polka dots, were intended to protect the country against attack from the West, but these days they are more commonly used by naughty Albanians looking for a secluded spot to make love not war.

In the early evening we climb up to Qeparo's old town at the top of the mountain overlooking the sea. We can hear the murmurs of families tucked into the dozen or so white stone houses, and the clanging bells of a goatherd somewhere in the surrounding trees, but don't see a soul. Nighttime in the Riviera is a DIY affair. There are no snazzy restaurants or clubs, so you have to busk it with the locals. At Jaal we were invited to join a couple of youngsters on the beach for a bonfire. In Qeparo people congregated at Alex's cafe for cards, and lots of homemade rakia. In many eastern European countries people are understandably wary of tourists. But here they love anyone from abroad, simply because it's such a novelty. When we leave Qeparo the next day, with slightly heavy heads, Alex refuses to take any money from us.

It is the same ethic of hospitality that prompts goodbye hugs from two taxi drivers during my time in Albania, and that has fellow passengers helping me to order espressos and deliciously spicy offal broth during breaks on bus journeys. At Saranda, where the Riviera ends, an old man approaches me. Thamaj has the kind of magnanimous, round face that makes me instantly want him to be my granddad. Over coffee he tells of hiding Jews and fleeing Italians in his house during World War II, and giving shelter to a family of Kosovans after the horrors of the 1990s. The Albanians, I realize, have been good hosts for years.

From the cafe I watch the locals partake in that most Balkan of pastimes - wandering up and down in the early evening in your best outfit. Across the water, Corfu's coastline is ablaze. It's a chain of lights that runs, with occasional interruptions, until Europe merges with Asia. Around 160km north of where I'm sitting the chain picks up, and runs from the Adriatic all the way to the Algarve. In between is one of the most beautiful blips you'll ever come across, as long as a particular road remains particularly bumpy. (Taipei Times)

Albania's tourism potential "no 9" worldwide

The World Travel and Tourism Council has published its Top Ten of countries with the highest pace of growth in tourism development. For the third consecutive year, Montenegro tops the list, while Albania comes ninth with a tourism development potential of 7% in 2007-2016.

Worldwide tourism activities develop very fast, but it’s most interesting how small countries such as Croatia, Romania or Albania use tourism to develop economically, WTTC Representative Jean-Claude Baumgarten says.

Travel and tourism spending exceeded 4 billion US dollars last year, up 10.5% compared to 2005.

In Albania, economic activities related to tourism will top 6 billion US dollar in 2007, the study says.

WTTC TOP TEN

1) Montenegro 10.2
2) China 8.7
3) India 8.0
4) Romania 7.9
5) Croatia 7.6
6) Vietnam 7.5
7) Latvia 7.3
8) Maldives 7.2
9) Albania 7.0
10) Cambogia 7.0

ALBANIA: UNESCO Not a Life Saver

GJIROKASTRA, Jul 30 (IPS) - Good looks have not sufficed to make Gjirokaster, a picturesque historical city in Southern Albania, the wealthy and succesful tourist destination it aspires to be.

Tourism is practically the only aspiration for the 30,000-inhabitant town where most of its formerly important light industries have gone bankrupt.

In 2005 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisations (UNESCO) included the southern Albanian town in its World Heritage List, a status-granting achievement that helps with maintaining and cataloguing sites of cultural interest.

Gjirokaster, the birthplace of former communist ruler Enver Hoxha, began flourishing under Ottoman rule, and its architectonical evolution boasts some unique 17th and 19th century styles. National recognition of its cultural value came before, in 1961, when authorities granted it the status of a 'museum city'.

The former communist ruler was very fond of his hometown, which still votes overwhelmingly socialist, and hundreds of people were employed in preservation of the town, which was taken for granted by residents.

But today the local office of the Institute of Monuments is highly understaffed. The town's traditional houses formally enjoy very strong legal protection, but in practice neglect and lack of aesthetic care are often visible, and illegal construction, as elsewhere in Albania, is taking a toll on Gjirokaster's landscape.

"In the museum zone of the city there are hundreds of bits of illegal construction not following historical guidelines," David Bragg, a U.S. citizen who was assigned to Gjirokaster by Peace Corps, a humanitarian organisation, and who is now helping get tourism information across through a series of projects in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) told IPS. "And while laws are there, there is no will or capacity to implement them."

When the town was included in UNESCO's heritage list, many locals thought the West had come to save Gjirokaster from its neglect. But little has changed and high expectations have given place to sour feelings. "Nothing has improved here," Sofia, an aged local ethnic Greek told IPS. "Ever since the change of regime things get worse by the year."

"The perception is that UNESCO would solve its problems," explains Auron Tare, director of the Albanian National Trust, "but UNESCO does not give money, it is just a prestigious title."

Tare told IPS that UNESCO status increases awareness so that "local people try to do something for their own town rather than expecting UNESCO or other organisations to help them."

Bragg says the Albanian government makes investment difficult, precisely when there is a pressing need for wealthy foreigners to save decaying buildings. While foreigners can purchase property in Albania, the most valuable buildings are not accessible to them. Moreover, foreigners who invest in Albania often consider these investments to be risky.

The World Bank's latest 'Doing Business' report ranks Albania among the worst countries when it comes to protecting foreign investment, in 162nd place. But this city still offers many opportunities for those wishing to invest in tourism, while saving the town's architectonical patrimony.

Kate Yarhouse, also part of the Peace Corps programme to promote tourism in the city, told IPS that many of the endangered houses could be turned into bed & breakfast places, "which would still be worth the investment in spite of the high cost of renovations."

Marketing would only be prioritised once the city offers minimal conditions to tourists. "We are trying to put infrastructure before marketing," Yarhouse said.

The danger with focusing on marketing lies in the high expectations tourists invariably have when arriving at a UNESCO site. "If they are not properly prepared, tourists might go back and say they did not find the image that was being promoted to correspond to reality," Tare told IPS. "People are not coming to Gjirokaster because of the lack preparedness for tourism."

Tare is also among the founders of one of Albania's most successful tourist destinations, the Butrint National Park in Southern Albania that due to its archaeological and environmental value has become, together with Gjirokaster, the only other UNESCO site in Albania.

"Butrint was successful because we invested and built bridges with the communities," he says. "The moment you don't engage them you are going to have problems. They are shareholders of what happens to their places. Doing tourism with the presence of locals is something very new in Albania, it should become a national strategy." (END/2007)(IPS)

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