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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