Albania eyes up to 30 mln foreign tourists by 2030 – Rama

The number may even reach 30 million as tourism growth surpassed the government’s projections last year, Rama added.

Last year, the prime minister said the government had projected foreign tourist arrivals to reach at least 9 million in 2023. In January, the country’s statistics office reported arrivals rising 35% to 10.1 million in 2023. Albania had a population of around 2.7 million as of the beginning of 2023.

Higher expectations are also backed by tourist numbers in the first quarter of 2023, which are showing a continuation of the growth trend, Rama said at a government meeting ahead of the summer touristic season, as seen in a social media video.

Foreign tourist arrivals to Albania reached 1.7 million in the first quarter of 2024, an increase from 1.07 million in the same quarter of 2023, tourism minister Mirela Kumbaro said earlier this month.

Rama called on government officials to work on improving the country’s touristic offerings for a potential tripling of tourist numbers by 2030.