TIRANA, Oct. 11 /ATA/ – Northern Albania’s Malësia e Madhe region and the southern town of Përmet have undergone significant changes over the past decade, emerging as tourist destinations with potential for economic growth, Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Sunday.
Speaking in the fifth episode of the seventh season of his Let’s Talk podcast, Rama said the two areas had been seen as places with little prospect of development just 10 years ago.
“While preparing this episode a few minutes ago, I was thinking that once upon a time – not 100 years ago, but just 10 years ago – both Malësia e Madhe and Përmet were among the places on Albania’s map that seemed very remote and, from a distance, appeared to offer no reason to visit,” Rama said.
He recalled travelling across Albania before becoming prime minister, when his previous role required him to visit different parts of the country.
“Both Malësia and Përmet seemed like places without hope, where those who lived there were simply still there, but would no longer be there the next day,” he said.
Rama said the situation had since changed, with both areas becoming part of an Albania increasingly shaped by tourism and entrepreneurship.
“Today, they are two destinations in the new Albania, the different Albania we have built through considerable effort, while much of what happens is obscured from Tirana’s boulevard by the artificial clouds of social media channels and television screens,” he said.
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