TIRANA, Sept 27 /ATA/ Minister of Finance and Economy, Delina Ibrahimaj, participated in a meeting which focused on the track record of the tourist season in summer. In attendance were also Prime Minister Edi Rama and Minister of Tourism and Environment, Mirela Kumbaro.
The minister said that the government sees tourism as a strategic sector and for this reason, in recent years, attention and investments in this sector have increased, especially in infrastructure.
Minister Ibrahimaj guaranteed that the support for the tourism sector will continue in the upcoming years, expressing her confidence that the sector has a lot of untapped potential.
“In 2021 alone, the contribution of the tourism sector to the country’s GDP was 7.5%, and if counting the sectors that indirectly contribute to tourism, this contribution goes up to 17.5% of the GDP. In 2022, only for the period June-August, there was an increase in the turnover of the sector by 30% and an increase in employment by 4% compared to the previous year, which indicate a positive development, increase in the number of businesses, the number of overnight stays, increase in capacities and the use of touristic capacities,”Ibrahimaj said.
Minister Ibrahimaj emphasized the fact that for the tourism sector, the government has introduced fiscal incentives to stimulate investments.
“All 4- and 5-star hotels are exempt from taxation. VAT has been reduced to 6 percent for all accommodation structures, while for 4- and 5-star hotels, VAT has been reduced for restaurants,” she said.
“We have tried to encourage investments in this sector through our fiscal policies and through the law on strategic investments we have introduced some other incentives related to the infrastructure impact tax for constructions in this sector. We will continue to support the tourism sector, because we firmly believe that it has a lot of untapped potential. According to the forecasts of international institutions in the field of tourism, all over the world this sector will grow by 5.8% on a year to year basis until 2030,” said Ibrahimaj.
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