Godfather at ITB Berlin panel: We are building a strategy for Albanians to return and work for the country's tourism
2025-03-05 11:52:58
TiranaPost
After the press conference and the official opening ceremony, ITB Berlin has launched not only the fair, but also a series of panel discussions. “Global Round Table: Next Changes, next challenges” was the first panel discussion with the participation of the Minister of Tourism and Environment Mirela Kumbaro, moderated by Richard Quest, travel journalist for CNN.
"In developing tourism, we must not only learn from the mistakes of others, but also from our own history of recent years. Albania today is another country, completely transformed thanks to tourism," said Minister Kumbaro at this roundtable.
Asked about the flows of American tourists to Europe, Kumbaro said that "Tourism for us is politics, for tour operators and companies it is business, but for customers it is pleasure. And no one can stop pleasure. People after Covid want to visit more and more countries, Albania, which is a new destination, is seeing an expansion of the tourist map, from North and South America to Asia."
From this roundtable discussion, Minister Kumbaro clarified Albania's approach to being a destination of high-level tourism experiences and sustainable practices in harmony with nature.
"You may have heard that Albania is the country of honor at ITB, but you should know something. It is a country with 2.4 million inhabitants that last year hosted about 12 million visitors. We want to position Albania in the high tourism category. You introduced me as the Minister of Tourism, but I am the Minister of Tourism and Environment. We have 21.5% of Albania as a protected area, just as we protected the Vjosa, the last wild river. The more we consider tourism as hostile to the environment, the more hostile it becomes. That is why we have chosen to keep them under one "roof" to keep them in balance", said Minister Kumbaro.
In her panel discussion, Minister Kumbaro also mentioned the strategy that Albania is building to offer opportunities to Albanians in the diaspora to return to work and invest in their homeland: "Our priority is human resources. We have also launched a strategy for the return of Albanians to their homeland. Before coming to Berlin, I was in Athens for a large fair aimed at our compatriots."
The minister also stated that tourism in Albania is a vision and the Albanian tourist offer complements the large map of the Balkan region and establishes bridges with Europe and the most distant markets.
"The Balkans is a big tourist map. We want to complete it with the Albanian way and with our tourist offer. Tourism is a vision for us in Albania. It is emancipation and we want to keep it as a bridge connecting Europe, with the world," underlined the Minister of Tourism and Environment.
Minister Kumbaro shared this panel with her Croatian counterpart, Minister Tonci Glavina, the CEO of the European Travel Commission, Eduardo Santander, and the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs Nabeela F. Tunis of Sierra Leone.
