Thursday, March 13, 2008

Masseturisme i Albania!

Siden vi jobber så tett med OSSE, har vi flyttet inn i deres kontorlokaler, noe som gjør at jeg hver dag går gjennom resepsjonen til Sheraton når jeg skal til og fra jobb.

Her en dag da jeg gikk min sedvanlige rute holdt øynene på å falle ut av hodet på meg: Der! I resepsjonen! Der stod det en busslast med japanske turister!

Hva blir det neste? Pensjonister fra Norge?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Øy! Vi er da ikke pensjonister enda....Men vi kommer snart nå!

Anonymous said...

Flott!
Albania satser stort på turisme.

Her er reklamen som skal gå cnn-BBC-REUTERS-

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1198PxedQU0

Anonymous said...

Been there, but not done that :) Virker som om Albania og de fleste landene i stroeket oensker aa bli 'det nye Kroatia' mht turisme, og det er jo fair nok - selv om jeg tviler paa at de vil lykkes! Syns du det har forandra seg mye den tida du har vaert der? (landet altsaa?)

Anonymous said...

"alter ego"

ikke vær så sikker på det, det er store prosjekter på gang her er bare en av de (er du intersert så kan jeg komme med flere, foresten så selges det albanske eindomer/ferie leiligheter på finn.no også nå)
03 March 2008

TriGranit, Central and Eastern Europe’s largest property development company, aims to build a huge tourist resort from scratch on Albania’s northwestern coast.



Although seeing a steady a growth in the last few years, Albania is still falls behind the region when it comes to developing tourism. Its lack of infrastructure and political instability are often cited as a deterrence to a growing industry, which globally generated more than €2 billion per day in 2007.

However with Kosovo’s independence already settled and its more than 80 states recognising or set recognise the Balkan's newest state, amongst whom the Unites States, France, Germany and Italy, TriGranit, a Canadian based company, is looking to take advantage of this new optimism.

The company, basing its European operations in Budapest, revealed a development project worth hundreds of million of euros to construct a city from scratch on Albania's northwestern coast, when Prime Minister Sali Berisha visited Hungary Monday.

After researching the Albanian landscape for more than a year, TriGranit, aim to build a huge development, which apart from hotels, restaurants and vacation homes, will also include public building projects such as roads, hospitals and parks.

Albania’s possible entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization later this year, its increased European Union membership prospects, and of course rising tourism, growing by 10% per year are often cited by investors as its core advantages.

Other major rewards that Albania offers investors are the lack of restrictions on foreign ownership of property, the lack of capital gains tax, no withholding tax, no inheritance tax, no value added tax on property purchases, no state or wealth taxes and no transfer tax.

As a New York Times top ten budget destination for 2008, foreign property developers are taking notice of the small Balkan country, whose mild Mediterranean climate sports more than 300 days of sunshine every year.

The weak US dollar could also provide a major boon for Albania’s tourism industry, as overseas tourists are increasingly looking for budget destinations outside the eurozone.

"Just as the other Eastern European States hit us hard and fast with their capital growth, we believe Albania will do the same. It is becoming a pattern, these under-developed states, that were once surrounded by similarly under-developed neighbouring states, see their neighbours jumping onto the international tourism and property markets with a bang, and start to take steps rapidly to ensure that they are not left behind,” notes David Stanley from Redfern Ltd, one of the United Kingdom's leading overseas property investment specialists.

“Their generally good climate, which is always big business in the tourism industry, means their low prices make them a low cost alternative to some of Europe's hottest tourist destinations," he adds.

According to World Travel & Tourism Council, tourism in Albania generated more than €1.5 billion of economic activity in 2007.

Albania's travel and tourism market accounted for 13.8% of Gross Domestic Product and 137,000 jobs, about 11.2 % of the total workforce.

Albania’s government has been waging a robust campaign to seek foreign investment in its economy.

Last year the government presented the “Albania for €1” initiative, aiming to increase foreign direct investments, after years of stagnation, due to a tumultuous transition from the communist command economy to a free-enterprise democracy.

Under the scheme, publicly-owned land and assets are made available to investors for a token price, in exchange for the promise of substantial capital investment.

The initiative is open to both foreign and domestic investors.

Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s centre-right government is also planning a big round of privatization in 2008, which will spell the end of public ownership of the last major assets currently controlled by the state.

The distribution branch of Albania’s power utility, KESH, the insurance company, INSIG, and the only oil refinery in the country, ARMO, will all be sold off later this year.

The government's sweeping privatization plans follow the introduction of a flat-rate taxation system at the exceptionally low rate of 10% at the beginning of the year.

Besar Likmeta is BIRN Albania Editor. Balkan Insight is BIRN's online publication.








Huge Oil & Gas Reserve Found in Albania


According to their findings, the unproven reserve holds up to 2.987 billion barrels of oil and 3.014 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.


However if the oil is capped with a layer of gas, Gustavson calculates the field to total 1.4 billion barrels of light oil and 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

And in the event that only gas is present, the reserve is expected to contain 28 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/7297/

Anonymous said...

MoT. Ta väl hand om er "host". Hon lär inte behandlas er som pensjonister.

Unknown said...

Albania er eksotisk og spennende. Også for japanere!

Anonymous said...

Albert: takk! Kjente til den artikkelen/site'n fra foer, men nyttig likevel. Setter pris paa aa hoere at du er uenig; jeg vil glede meg stort dersom min skepsis motbevises. Men det skal mer til foer jeg er overbevist;-) Men rett skal vaere rett og jeg foelger selvfoelgelig med paa hvordan det gaar der, baade med Albania og naboene.