Albania proved Lonely Planet unreliable

Alfred Kola

When Lonely Planet, the largest travel guide publisher, placed Albania on top of the list of most attractive tourist destinations for 2011 many Albanians laughed bitterly, because they knew this was another joke played on the people by Mr. Berisha to divert the attention from the really serious problems the country was facing, like the political deadlock and his authoritarian behavior towards the independent institutions. Albanians knew because they live here; and this country was not the “Beauty of the World” as Berisha often liked to boast. The bumpy narrow chuckholed roads, unplanned buildings scattered across the coastline, water shortage, garbage-covered beaches and uncared-for environment are not a good picture for tourists. Following the end of summer prime minister went on to state that the Lonely Planet’s prophecy was fulfilled: a stunning number of three million people visited Albania, a great success according to the Albanian government, even though agencies for tourism reported that a much smaller number of tourists arrived in the country compared to previous years. But this year brought a novelty in the tourism domain in Albania, a factor that would downsize the positive impact of tourism on the national economy. This summer Albanians could travel abroad, as a result of visa liberalization, and the net profit from tourism resulted negative by season’s end. This means that Albanians spent more abroad than the visitors spent in Albania, respectively $650 million and $800 million. But why would Albanian government consider this a success?

Well, the answer is political reasons. Everything is about staying in power at any costs. Prime Minister Berisha is well-known for bragging about his government’s “planetary successes” that are mostly big flops. Fiks Fare, the most popular TV show in Albania, unraveled last night the scheme used to multiply the number of tourists visiting Albania: thousands of people from Kosovo, who pass transit through Albania on a daily basis to go to Montenegro and back, are all registered as tourists. So are hundreds of thousands Albanians who return to the country after visiting their relatives abroad as well as Albanian residents in foreign countries returning home for one-month summer vacation. These figures show that the number of foreign tourists coming to Albania to spend their vacation was really small and insignificant.

The upshot is that the Lonely Planet was wrong in its forecast, what makes it an unreliable source. So don’t trust Lonely Planet when you plan your vacation, because on top of the list stays the country whose government offers the highest bid regardless of whether it meets the criteria to be on top or not!