TIRANA, June 8 /ATA/- Minister of Tourism and Environment, Blendi Klosi, said that the government’s relief packages and measures allowed tourism to breathe more than other sectors in the face the difficulties induced by the COVID-19 situation.
In a televised interview, Klosi said that tourism can recover more quickly due to strict adherence to anti- COVID-19 measures which helped us reopen earlier and gradually.
“We opened the borders on June 1 and the number of border movements has increased slightly because Macedonia continues to keep the border closed, Montenegro has opened it, whereas the movement of Kosovo Albanians was until yesterday restricted by protocols. The opening of the land borders gives us hope. If the border opens with Greece, the influx of tourism coming via the 4 land borders of the country we will increase, as the tourism via land borders last year accounted for 80 % of tourism in our country and if this line is open for the July-August season, we will see movement by car, which contributes to the dynamics of tourism in general, “- Klosi said.
According to him, if the situation were normal in May and June we would have an influx of charters at full capacity. “But the closure of Corfu and many other airports has prompted us to postpone the charter tourism season,” the minister said.
“But,” he continued, “as of June 12, the first charters will arrive in Albania from Belarus and Ukraine, and then we hope to see movements as promised from Poland, the Baltic countries of the Czech Republic, which seek to open the tourism market and we hope that by mid -June, at the end of this month, the airports will be fully open and July, August will see many more charter arrivals.”
Klosi pointed out that by means of new laws we aim to propel maritime economy into development.
/ e.xh/sm/
