Albania: The “Open Balkan” brings great opportunities

The Ministry of Tourism and Environment of Albania, in cooperation with the World Tourism Organization, organized the international tourism forum "FESTA-The Future of Ecological and Sustainable Tourism" in the framework of the Tourism Week, which is celebrated in Tirana from April 3 to 8, in which representatives of 40 countries participate.

The Minister of Tourism and Environment of Albania, Mirela Kumbaro, says that the Open Balkan is an initiative that serves to help us and make everyday life easier.

"Through the Open Balkan, which means clients, market, and tourist exchange, we are given great opportunities, because we are small countries, and in small countries such as Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Serbia, we do not have the luxury of being closed. We should all be together, in order to give tourists the opportunity to travel from one country to another, and the Open Balkan provides that opportunity," Kumbaro said for Kosovo Online.

The director of the National Tourist Organization of Albania, Zana Cela, believes that the Open Balkan initiative creates a bridge of cooperation between the countries of the region. She notes that the three countries that initiated and support the Open Balkan have much in common.

"For sure, all Balkan countries can cooperate with each other, because we had many things in common that made it possible, in the economy and in tourism, which has now become a priority for the economic development of each country, to organize, to adapt, to create a bridge of cooperation, especially in the field of tourism," Cela told Kosovo Online and added that Albania and Serbia cooperated excellently in that field. "I am exchanging ideas about cooperation with the director of the Serbian Tourism Organization and we will immediately start realizing and implementing them. In November, we have the next activity within the Open Balkan, and then we will present those ideas with a new standard. We are very optimistic because, as I said, we represented countries that had been next to each other for centuries, we had a lot to share, to take from each other, because that was the only way our three countries could have prosperity," Cela concluded.

The Director of the Tourist Organization of Serbia, Marija Labovic, believes that the Open Balkan is an extremely important initiative when it comes to tourism due to the easier movement between our countries, due to the easier exchange of tourists, but also in all other areas of cooperation.

"Last year, we had a very successful joint performance, the three tourism organizations of Serbia, Albania, and North Macedonia, where we presented our three destinations during the Wine Vision of the Open Balkan. From the tourist aspect, we are preparing to repeat it this year as well, and certainly to use the opportunity such as this conference to further strengthen cooperation; to get to know each other better; to create together what we can offer to tourists in the coming period," Labovic said, adding that sustainable tourism had become a new trend in the world to which Serbia was adapting.