January 9 (SeeNews) - Albania’s fourth airport will be built in the southern Unesco world heritage town of Gjirokastra, instead of the southern coastal city of Saranda as it was initially planned, as the country seeks to promote year-long tourism, infrastructure minister Belinda Balluku said.
“We have revised our plans in terms of efficiency. Given the existing airfield in Gjirokastra, given the already built infrastructure that connects Gjirokastra to Saranda in 45 minutes, and given that in Albania is not only developing coastal tourism but year-round tourism […] the south airport is now planned to be set in Gjirokastra,” Balluku said in a press conference on Monday, as seen in a social media video.
The airfield of Gjirokastra hasn’t been operational since 1991. It was first built in 1929 to host mainly domestic flights for military purposes.
Besides its main airport in the capital Tirana, Albania has also an operating airport in the north eastern town of Kukes. A third airport in the southwestern port city of Vlora is under construction and it is set to start operations in 2025, the infrastructure minister has said earlier. Prime minister Edi Rama unveiled plans for a fourth airport, at the time pinpointed in Saranda, in July 2022.
Albania welcomed more than 10.1 million tourists in 2023, a 35% boost in foreign tourist arrivals from the previous year, tourism minister Mirela Kumbaro said earlier. The country is focusing on tourism infrastructure in a bid to drive top-tier tourism in the country, Kumbaro told SeeNews in a September interview.
Tender procedures for the construction of the new airport in Gjirokastra are set to open within the first half of 2024, Balluku noted.