Speaking at the Euronews Summit 2026 in Brussels, Rama said Albania is working to move beyond long-standing stereotypes and promote itself as a diverse tourism destination.

He highlighted the country’s coastline, rivers, mountains, food and hospitality, saying its natural diversity allowed visitors to experience a wide range of attractions within a single trip.

Rama said Albania had grown from around 2 million visitors at the start of its tourism transformation to nearly 12 million foreign visitors last year, including tourists from Europe, Japan, the United States, Latin America, Australia, China, Israel and the Middle East.

Turning to infrastructure, Rama acknowledged that Albania did not have Europe’s best infrastructure but said investment was continuing to support the expansion of tourism.

He said Tirana airport had recorded the fastest passenger growth in Europe for the past five or six years, adding that it had overtaken Belgrade’s airport in absolute passenger numbers after previously being a small regional airport.

The new airport in Vlora is expected to open soon, while work is also under way on a third, seasonal airport in southern Albania, Rama said. A fourth airport is planned in a mountainous area but is not yet operating at the level the government wants, he added.

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Addressing a presentation event of the digital National Tourism Calendar via TEA 2.0 app, PM Rama focused on his government’s efforts and projects to develop Albania’s tourism infrastructure as part of the ambition to transform Albania into a major tourist destination.

The government head highlighted the ongoing investment projects on construction of tourist ports in Durres and Vlora, the country’s two largest coastal cities, in a bid to increase the number of visitors.

Rama noted that Albania has been included on the map of tourist map in the Mediterranean in the past few years, underlining that work is underway on the Durrës and Vlorë ports, aiming to increase the number of visitors and contracts with five-star hotels.

“Work has kicked off on construction of the tourist ports in Durres and Vlora. We are waiting for due procedures to complete so that the way is cleared for construction of a tourist port in Saranda too. We are pretty optimistic that with development of the tourist ports will lead not only to the increase of the number of visitors, but also to the revenue increase,” he said.

PM Rama voiced optimism about the future of Albania’s tourism industry, citing the country’s unique cultural and artistic offerings as major attractions.

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Growth in number of local and foreign visitors and increased interest in nature-based and adventure tourism has included the area of Arras and Fushe-Lure in north-eastern municipality of Diber on the map of EBRD and EU investment plan.

The road linking Sine (Arras)  and Fushë-Lurë area is part of the segment between the town of Peshkopi and Fushë-Lurë.

This road is increasingly being used by both local and foreign visitors during the summer season in particular to experience mountain tourism and the area’s various nature attractions. Therefore, rehabilitation of this road segment has become indispensable part of the efforts to attract a growing number of tourists to the area and improve connectivity between rural areas and the town of Peshkopi.

The investment project on rehabilitation of the 2.14 km long and 2.5 meter wide road will be implemented by the Albanian Development Fund.

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