TIRANA, October 19 /ATA/ In the Drilon-Tushemisht water park, there was inaugurated the Visitor Center, a project of the Ministry of Tourism and Environment with the Albanian-American Development Foundation (AADF) and the municipality of Pogradec.
Attending the ceremony were AADF CEO Michael D. Granoff, Mayor of Pogradec Ilir Xhakolli, Head of the Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party Niko Peleshi.
Minister of Tourism and Environment Mirela Kumbaro said that, “In the little Albania, the protected areas, whether natural parks, national parks, or protected landscapes have coexisted and are so thanks to the people who have lived and live and work in these natural areas. People here are part of the ecosystem. Albania is too small to have huge wild spaces without any intervention by people, but over the centuries people through tradition, customs, agricultural or urban crafts have made us have an entity of such protected areas as Tushemishti- Driloni”.
Further on, Kumbaro evaluated the project for harmonizing the development of tourism and the local economy with clear rules of organization in respect of nature conservation.
At the end of her speech, the minister said that from January to September, 4.5 million visitors have visited our protected areas, surpassing the total of the previous year, indicating a growing interest in nature tourism.
Drilon-Tushemisht is in a small geographical space where some of the pearls of Albanian nature are very gracefully combined, such as: the sources of Drilon, the lake of Pogradec, the characteristic houses of the area, narrow passageways and picturesque landscapes, which create a wonderful oasis with many opportunities for the development of tourism in the area.
This project allows visitors not only to walk on the pedestrian walkway of Drilon, but to go to the sources of Drilon and to Tushemisht through mainly pedestrian crossings. Every intervention was carried out with environmentally friendly methods, protecting biodiversity. /a.f/p.s./
