This is what PM Edi Rama stated during a conversation with Vlora citizens.

“I believe that Vlora with two major investments on the way to implementation, despite a very exhausting process with the first one, which is the airport due to the pandemic, due to extension of the bidding process that was opened, canceled, reopened, suspended, has a bright future ahead. Now I hope we will finally have the winner of the race. It is different from how naively some people think when saying you talk about airports at the height of crisis, but the truth of the matter is that airports are those that generate jobs,” Rama said.

Rama went on saying that, “the airports are not like bus stops, airports bring customers, they bring people who have to eat, sleep, have to go out, go to cultural spaces and get health services. This is why, as all studies say, 1 euro invested in an airport brings another 24 euros. So if an airport is worth 100 million euros, multiply it by 24 and that is the revenue that the airport brings to the economy as an investment. It is a value chain at play, meaning an increase in the flow of people, increase in the flow of services, increase in the flow of consumption, so it definitely increases the production value chain.”

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“Although the tourist port is different, yet it leads to the same direction, imagine if we have a port in Vlora that numbers 300 or 400 boats, there are 300 or 400 crews who stay here throughout the period and out of season. So these crews both consume and pay, not counting the fact that during the seasons the tourist ports attract consumers who spend a lot. They are customers of another level and all these hospitality structures, the hotels that will be added, in result the services that will be added, they will demand labor force. Of course, this will lead to a pay raise because the quality of services must necessarily be higher, “ concluded Rama.
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