A second issue underpins the first. For the most part, the quality of accommodation in Albania still lags behind that in other countries. While you can find “boutique” hotels along its coast, many of the bigger properties – such as those at Durres – date to the first boom in post-communist construction, in the mid-Nineties. These are now showing their age. “Although tourism is growing fast, it is still fairly new, and there are rough edges compared to the service levels visitors now find in Greece and Spain,” der Parthog adds.
The third, biggest issue is one of access. All 11 of the current or imminent flight routes from the UK are to Tirana – a fascinating and increasingly vibrant city which wears its heritage and scars with pride, but one that, lying 20 miles inland, halfway up the country, is not wholly convenient for fly-and-flop tourists. A second international airport, Kukes, opened in April last year – but, almost on the border with Kosovo, is even less practical.
There will, though, be a third airport, at Vlore. This mega-project – which has not come without controversy, or damage to the Vjose-Narte wetland area around it – is due to be completed by next April. This will be a game-changer, dropping tourists right by the beach. At present, Sunvil is only able to offer holidays to Saranda by flying its customers to adjacent Corfu, and ferrying them across. With this complication in their way, no other package-tourism specialist dangles the Albanian coast in front of British holidaymakers. Tui only covers the country via a seven-night escorted history tour which crosses the border into North Macedonia; Thomas Cook goes no further than a clutch of hotels in Tirana. Jet2 limits its Albanian operation to a day-trip from Corfu; On The Beach offers nothing at all. Expect this picture to be radically different when Vlore is up and running.
Source link : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/albania/albania-tirana-holidays-increase-uk-travellers/
Author :
Publish date : 2023-06-16 03:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.