Altin Prenga: There Is No Poor Tourist — Only Tourists Who Spend Carefully

By Altin Prenga

I often hear the expression “poor tourism.” But I can guarantee you one thing: there is no such thing as a poor tourist.

 Chef and agrotourism pioneer Altin Prenga reflecting on the true value of tourism, honest pricing, and authentic experiences at Mrizi i Zanave.

I was reminded of this by a €500 banknote that some of our guests left in the box dedicated to those in need, as well as by the 80,000 new Albanian lek that had been collected yesterday in another box intended for our staff.

In my view, there is only a careful tourist — someone who thinks about how to spend their money. Wasteful spending, on the other hand, is simply foolish.

You can pay €1,000 for a resort if you believe the experience is worth €1,000. And you can pay €2 for a traditional pie if you believe it is worth €2. What people do not want is to pay more than something is genuinely worth.

That is why our responsibility as tourism professionals is simple: we must offer consistency between price, product and experience.

At Mrizi i Zanave, August is a busy month. We welcome many visitors, but we also have shortcomings. The surroundings are not always 100% clean, the road leading to us is not perfect, and the acoustics in my guest rooms could certainly be better.

That is precisely why I do not ask my friends and guests to pay €100 per person for lunch. I charge €20. I do not charge €1,000 for a room when €80 is a fairer price for what we currently offer.

This is not about making tourism cheaper. It is about making prices honest.

If we want Albania to develop higher-quality tourism and attract visitors who are willing to spend more, then we have to build something that is genuinely worth paying for: experience, authenticity and quality.

Tourists are not necessarily looking for the cheapest destination. They are looking for value.

Our goal should be to make visitors feel that they have discovered something precious — something worth consuming, experiencing and remembering.

If we want tourists to spend more in Albania, we should not simply ask them to pay more. We should give them more reasons to do so.

That means investing in authentic experiences, improving quality, respecting the real value of our products and creating places that visitors feel privileged to have experienced.

Albania has enormous potential. But the future of our tourism industry will not be determined by how expensive we make it.

It will be determined by how much value we create.

— Altin Prenga