Our country develops year-round tourism because in addition to the coastal beauties, there is a fairly good landscape and climate, which favors the tourists to explore different places.

Director of the National Agency of Protected Areas Daniel Pirushi said in an interview for ATA that, “The high numbers of tourists who have chosen to visit Albania throughout 2023 have also visited the protected areas and there has been an increased demand from visitors to explore them in different forms”.

“Thus, during the past year, these were 4,568,896 visitors to these areas, of which 3,024,135 were locals and 1,544,761 were foreigners,” Pirushi emphasized.

In regard to the regions, Shkodra leads in terms of the number of visitors, while Fieri and Vlora come after it.

“Shkodra was visited by 109 31 20 visitors in January-December 2023, while Fieri had 844 740 visitors and Vlora 762 450 visitors”, said Pirushi.

The Alps National Park was among the most visited parks in the country for 2023.

Pirushi said that the protected areas in Albania are appreciated as an effective opportunity for the development of sustainable tourism.

“Therefore, we are working hard to promote these protected areas for their extraordinary biodiversity values that they carry, but also as important tourist destinations at the national level and beyond”, emphasized Pirushi.

“In most cases, the visitors have the right information about the specific destinations they should visit. The employees of the Agency of Protected Areas also play an important role on the ground while they orient the visitors to these spots”, said Pirushi.

The 12 regional directorates of the Agency of Protected Areas have also done a good job for the placement of information boards.

Tourists from different countries of the world such as Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, China, Austria, USA, Italy, etc., have chosen to visit during 2023 the attractions that the agencies of the protected areas in our country have suggested.

Bird-watching tourism, especially of the waterfowl, is taking priority in these areas. The lagoons of Karavasta, Narta, Kune-Vaini, the lakes of Shkodra, Prespa are distinguished for bird-watching activities./k.s/p.s./