Best Tourism Villages program is an initiative that celebrates villages which have preserved their identity, heritage, and natural environment while developing tourism in a sustainable way.

Prime Minister Edi Rama and Minister of Tourism and Environment Mirela Kumbaro shared footage from Lekbibaj, highlighting the village’s strong ties to tradition and hospitality.

“Lekbibaj, at the heart of Nikaj-Mërtur, echoes the spirit of the Alps, conveying the strength of resilience and the roots of tradition and mountain hospitality on the global map of sustainable tourism as one of six villages representing Albania in the UNWTO’s global initiative ‘Best Tourism Villages in the World,’” Kumbaro wrote.

The application reflects the wider Nikaj-Mërtur area, inspired by the surrounding picturesque villages.

In recent years, Lekbibaj has become a preferred destination for nature lovers and admirers of the Albanian Alps.

Its proximity to Koman and Fierzë adds to its unique appeal. The village lies opposite Lake Koman, with the Currajve River winding to the left, eventually flowing into the lake at the village’s end.

Albania’s application to the UNWTO’s international “Best Tourism Villages” program highlights villages that have preserved their identity, heritage, and natural environment while fostering sustainable tourism.

The three selected villages showcase the wealth and diversity of rural Albania: from rugged mountain peaks to fertile plains, from ancient stones to the vibrant colors of daily life.

Albania is competing among 65 countries, with a total of 270 villages in the running for the title of Best Tourism Village.

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The Financial Supervisory Authority (AMF) has already determined the criteria for calculating the universal scheme of the “bonus-malus” system that will be implemented by all insurance companies that offer the domestic Motor Third Party Liability Insurance (MTPL) product in categories B1 (cars) and B2 (vans, minibuses).

The bonus–malus system (BMS) is a system that adjusts the premium paid by a customer according to their individual claim history.

The Authority has also added the district where the vehicle is registered as a risk factor, considering districts such as Berat, Dibra or Kukës as low risk, while other districts will have a coefficient of “1”.

However, according to this regulation, risk factors can be increased depending on the assessment that each insurance company will make.

Referring to data published by the Financial Supervisory Authority, the implementation of the “bonus-malus” system has had effects in reducing the number of accidents, protecting the lives of citizens and guaranteeing a fairer price in Third-party liability insurance (TPL) insurance policies.

In the social aspect, the application of the “bonus-malus” system aims to raise public awareness for a more careful driving of the vehicle, but also to improve the quality of insurance service towards consumers.

From a technical point of view, the process is more transparent and the inclusion of mathematical formulas makes it a fair, reliable and merit-based mechanism.

The term “bonus–malus” (Latin for ‘good-bad’) is used for a number of business arrangements which alternately reward (bonus) or penalize (malus). It is used, for example especially in insurance industries.

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While sharing in the social media an informative video on this application, Prime Minister Edi Rama said that, “Travel to Albania begins with TEA”.

“As soon as you arrive at the Port of Durrës, the first welcome is offered by the TEA Guide Application. At any moment, side by side with local and foreign tourists, with the invitation to get to know everything that this beautiful country has to offer, such as tourist spots, events, agro-tourism and many other services, through the TEA application,” wrote the prime minister.

The tourist calendar of summer events is harmonized this year in the TEA application.

The TEA app is accessible for free on all phones. One can find in the application the activities that take place during the tourist season at any time and in any place. It is enough to set the location and the application will bring up the results where the activities will be dedicated to all age groups.

This digital tourist calendar was realized by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment through the National Tourism Agency in coordination with other institutions such as the Ministry of Culture and all the municipalities of the country. /m.m/p.s./

“This is a historic day not only for the financial system in the country, but for all Albanian citizens”, he said.

Albania is, thus, the first country in the region, which sends the formal application to be admitted to the SEPA geographical area. Albania’s participation in SEPA not only marks a very important step in the country’s European integration journey, but will create facilities for Albanian businesses and consumers in terms of cost, time and simplicity with which they will perform cross-border transactions within European market.

The EU is the main trade partner of Albania, where about 2/3 of trade is carried out with these countries, so the benefits from the creation of financial facilities are significant for the expansion of trade exchanges. Also, participation in SEPA offers Albanian businesses access to the European market of 350 million inhabitants, offering them opportunities to expand their activity, increase competition and benefit from innovations./r.e/p.s./

At the presentation ceremony of this platform, in which Prime Minister Edi Rama also participated, Minister of Tourism and Environment Mirela Kumbaro said that thanks to the TEA events calendar, Albania’s tourist attractions and events have had a wider echo.

“Thanks to tourism, today it is easier for Albania to show its beauties, its people, its energies and we have an instrument that helps us, and that is the TEA – Calendar of Tourist Events – created for the first time last year and exceeded all our most optimistic expectations by being embraced by thousands of local and foreign tourists. This year comes with more options, with the ambition to be a digital guide for tourist events, which now extends from January to December,” said Minister Kumbaro.

Minister Kumbaro also focused on successes in tourism figures and promotion of our country as the place of honor for the ITB-Berlin 2025 fair.

“Albania is experiencing a beautiful moment in tourism not only for the record of foreign tourists, but also as this year’s destination in the international arena of this industry, as the place of honor in the most important fair in the tourism world ITB-Berlin.

We welcomed 3.3 million tourists during these first five months or about 40% more than the same period last year, proving all the projections made in cooperation with the private sector. The hashtag #Albania at the top of the TikTok video classification, creating more than 3.8 million posts, reinforces our conviction that in all forms of promotion, we definitely need to focus on digitization”, said further Minister Kumbaro. She concluded that, “This application makes vacations more beautiful and business easier”.

In its second year, this platform is improved and enriched not only with tourism events and cultural events, but also provides complete information of hospitality units and services, as well as links with other official sites that provide important information for tourists, such as e-Transport, local and national certified guides, licensed marine operators, etc./k.s/r.e/p.s./

The Albanian Football Federation (FSHF) has set sights on organizing the UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals in 2027.

FSHF has formally asked the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to consider Albania as a host for the 2027 European Under-21 Championship.

Albania is one of the main candidates to host the European tournament in 2027.  FSHF has requested that Albania becomes one of the host countries of the finals of this tournament.

Lacking the required number of stadiums, FSHF plans to collaborate with the Serbian Football Federation to jointly host the EURO 2027 finals for the Under-21 age group.

This very ambitious project would undoubtedly take Albania to the center of football attention of the entire continent.

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Beginning from August 1, the state company “IdentiTek” offers services for the issue and renewal of identification documents.

To be provided with ID cards and passports, citizens must buy the relevant coupon at the offices of the Albanian Post.

Minister Balla also followed the same procedure; after receiving the coupon he appeared at the offices of “IdentiTek” to continue with the depositing of biometric data.

The citizens who have bought the old coupons with the logo of the former concessionaire, and who have not used them, now have the opportunity to exchange them with the new coupons of the state company “IdentiTek”, at the Albanian Post.

The Ministry of the Interior and “IdentiTek” want to assure citizens that the payments made will be valid through the procedure of exchanging old coupons with new ones. From today, the citizens will also find coupons for the service with an accelerated procedure (Fast Track) at the counters of the Albanian Post. /p.s./

European Union told Klan Kosova TV that the work of the bodies under the Association-Stabilization Agreement and the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) has been suspended.

Other punitive measures against Kosovo include the disapproval of projects under the Investment Fund in the Western Balkans, as well as the suspension of meetings at political levels.

These measures were prepared by the bloc due to the failure to take the steps that have been requested to ease tensions in the north of Kosovo.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama attended the application launch ceremony at the newly-transformed iconic building of Pyramid in Tirana. Addressing the event, the government head noted that tourism sector is playing an increasingly important role, now generating around 18% of the country’s GDP, significantly up from just 4% of the GDP just a few years ago.

According to PM Rama, unlike in the past, the world’s largest tourism and travel companies are eying investment opportunities in Albania.

“We no longer struggle in convincing the largest global brands to set their eyes on Albania as many of them are queuing to kick off construction projects or file applications for construction permits. I am convinced that Albania will host the world’s largest tourism brands, like other countries, within a decade. And we will definitely deliver on the 10 million visitors target a year much earlier than expected,” PM Rama stated in his remarks.

Commenting on the new TEA application, Rama noted that a range of 1000 various activities is impressive and they represent a great opportunity for tourists to learn about full dimension of Albania’s tourist offer.

“TEA application represents a great opportunity for the visitors to receive real-time information on all activities taking place throughout the territory of the country,” he said.

“The cultural and artistic calendar of tourist Albania is indeed a project launched together with the then Culture Minister Mirela Kumbaro for some years now. A new but constantly evolving stage is now underway, because we very much believe that tourist Albania goes beyond the stunning turquoise sea water, beyond the magical peaks, valleys and landscape in general and the reasons to visit Albania are a lot more than that,” he noted.

“Combining and including cultural heritage, Albanian traditional cuisine, arts, and all sorts of traditional and contemporary activities represent an incredible opportunity to boost Albania’s capacities in attracting visitors from all over the world,” the Premier added.

“This calendar is totally accessible via this application and it helps everyone to receive real time information about any opportunity available within a certain territory, so that they can visit museums, archaeological sites, theatres, various events and so on and so forth. The application is a reflection of a work being done throughout the territory of Albania and now becomes available to everyone,” Rama said.

“The range of over 1 000 activities throughout the year and around 600 events during the tourist season only is quite impressive. It is a serious ongoing effort. I am convinced we have all the reasons to be super optimistic about tourist Albania,” PM Rama went on saying.

In this respect, the government head pointed out the investment projects on construction of four airports, adding that the newly-expanded Mother Teresa airport stand the chances to become the airport with the largest number of passengers in the Western Balkans.

He also commented on the projects on construction of the tourist and commercial ports in Durres.

“Tourist ports, like the Vlora port already under construction, will be built across country. Procedures on construction permits and other aspects are nearing completion and building work will kick off soon. A tourist harbour will be built in Saranda, whereas Orikum currently hosts the only operating tourist harbour in the country,” he said.

The government head noted that the revenue generated from the tourism industry have increased significantly.

The National Calendar of Tourism and Cultural Events and its Application TEA – Tourism Events of Albania, a technological innovation for Albanian tourism, were developed by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment and the National Tourism Agency.

TEA is the digital calendar, which is offered through a user-friendly application for every user in Albania and around the world, giving you the opportunity to create cultural tourism packages for the first time and travel through rich culture, heritage, arts, sports and cuisine of Albania.

With TEA, local visitors and foreign tourists can explore the calendar of events and mark favourite activities by age group and location, becoming part of Albania’s large cultural and tourism scene.

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The application provides information on the location of the polling station, the name on the list of voters, electoral subjects and candidates competing in the elections of May 14, 2023, data on real-time participation, as well as election results.

The “KQZ” application is a free application that can be downloaded from any smart phone (Android and IOS) and has two main functions: to inform voters about the electoral process and to give them the opportunity to report on irregularities they find during the electoral process.

Also, the CEC application will serve as a communication platform between the CEC and election commissions, to report on the progress of the voting process and the process of counting votes.

The data in this application are processed and stored by the CEC in full compliance with the provisions of the law “On the Protection of Personal Data”, as well as in respect of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual, in addition to guaranteeing the right to private life and family.

Making available the user’s personal data (phone number for the Denonco section) is mandatory for the verification of the denunciation, but it is up to the desire of each individual to voluntarily provide the requested information and to continue with the denunciation.

After the reported information has arrived at the eKQZ server, the latter implements a security system of the highest standards for the storage and further processing of this data, in full accordance with the provisions of the law “On the Protection of Personal Data” ./m.m/ /gj.m/r.e/p.s./