Tourism direct contribution to Albania's GDP to grow to 9.3% by 2028

The direct contribution of Albania's tourism and travel sector to the country's economy is expected to grow to 9.3% by 2028, from to 8.5% in 2017, the World Travel&Tourism Council (WTTC) said. Albania's tourism and travel sector contributed directly 134.1 billion leks ($1.25 billion/1.02 billion euro) to the country's economy in 2017, the WTTC said in its Travel&Tourism Economic Impact 2018 report on Albania. According to the council's long-term forecast, in 2028 the tourist industry will generate 220.4 billion leks. Investments in the tourist sector are projected to rise by 5.5% in 2018 from 32.2 billion leks in 2017. WTTC expects total tourist and travel investments to gradually reach 52.1 billion leks in 2028. In 2017, the tourist industry directly supported 93,500 jobs, while this year WTTC projects this number to rise by 3.3%. According to the report, jobs supported by tourism will total 111,000 in 2028. In 2018, Albania is expected to attract 4.85 million foreign tourists, while by 2028 the annual number of international arrivals is foreseen to reach 6.6 million. WTTC ranks Albania 30th out of 135 countries in terms of the sector's direct contribution to GDP in 2017, as percentage share. For comparison, tourism in other two popular SEE tourist destinations, Montenegro and Croatia, contributed last year 11% and 10.9%, respectively, to the countries' GDP.

Source: Scan TV