January 25 (SeeNews) - The total number of foreign nationals who visited Albania jumped 114% year-on-year in 2021, reaching 5.7 million, the country's statistical office, INSTAT, said on Tuesday.
In December alone, Albania was visited by 267,409 foreign nationals, up 47.9% year-on-year, INSTAT said in a statement.
In 2021, the number of domestic tourists rose by an annual 42.2% to 3.9 million. Overall, the total number of domestic and foreign tourists soared 77.4% year-on-year to 9.6 million in the year under review.
The largest number of international visitors in 2021 came from Kosovo - 2.6 million, North Macedonia - 560,213, Italy - 354,370, Montenegro - 319,770 and Greece - 276,915.
In 2020, the number of foreign visitors to Albania decreased by 58.5% year-on-year to 2.66 million.
Albania confirmed its first two coronavirus cases in early March 2020. Later that month, the country closed its land borders and suspended all commercial flights in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus.