Last year, Albania was the "discovery" of foreigners who flocked to the country, from the South to the North, using the alternatives of mountain, seascape, adventurous and cultural tourism. But Albanians are not left behind themselves, exploring the different countries of the world.
The data of the Bank of Albania show that the expenditures of Albanians abroad and also the expenditures of foreigners in Albania have reached record levels in 2017.
Foreigners have brought about 1.7 billion euros in Albania, an increase of 11.7% compared to 2016. The highest inflow was in the second and third quarters of the year, respectively 421 and 588 million euros, which coincides with the peak tourist season (May-September).Neither Albanians who went abroad have not saved their money. In total they went abroad in the form of expenses of those who traveled, about 1.3 billion euros in 2017, an increase of 11% compared to the previous year. As in the case of foreigners, the highest expenditures were in the second and third quarter, respectively by 341 and 407 million euros.
However the net balance is positive, ie the difference between the money entering in Albania by foreigners and those getting out from Albanians abroad, has reached a positive record of ALL 445 million. In the period 2015-2017, the balance has improved considerably, while in 2013 it was negative of 7 million euros, implying that hte Albanians spend abroad more than foreigners in Albania.
Albanians in Antalya grew by 53%
Tirana International Airport data show that the number of passengers traveling by charter towards Antalias and return was about 63,000 people in 2017, with a strong growth of 53% compared to the previous year.
In almost two years, Albanians who prefer to go on holiday in Turkey almost doubled. By 2015, the number of chartered passengers was about 35,000. It marked an increase of 18% a year later in 2016, although Turkey was involved in a wave of terrorism that spurred foreign vacationers, but not the Albanians, who were attracted by lower tariffs. While in 2017, when the situation calmed down, the increase was even higher.
In total, according to INSTAT, the outflow of Albanian citizens in 2017 was 5.18 million in 2017 (81% of outflows were through land), an increase of 12% compared to 2016.
The number of foreigners reached record in 2017
Albania has been visited by a record number of foreigners in 2017, according to the statistics of citizen movements published by INSTAT.
In total, 5.1 million foreigners entered Albania, an increase of 8.1% compared to the previous year. Almost half of them came for tourist purposes. In the first place were the citizens of Kosovo with 1.7 million entries, though with a 19% decrease. Secondly, by the number of entries, the Macedonians grew by 18.5%, with 671 thousand people. Third, there were Greeks, with a 19% increase, with nearly 490,000 citizens entering. Fourth were Montenegrin neighbors, with 17% increase and about 380,000 citizens entering the Albanian border. Even 363,000 Italians came to Albania in 2017, a part for business and others for holidays.
The growth continued for the first two months of 2018, where the number of foreign arrivals was 423 thousand, an increase of 18%.