New Deal Europe Weekly Update on Tourism to the Balkan Region, Week 52
News from the destinations: Sustainability in Albania
Our guest this week is Elton Caushi, CEO of Albanian Trip and Cofounder of Albanian Responsible Travel Initiative. He gives us a fascinating insight into growing up under communism and how the desire to travel gave him motivation to escape. He doesn’t hold back on sharing his views on how tourism is developing in his country, and the fight to ensure that tourism growth is done sustainably and responsibly.
NDE: Hi Elton nice to have you as our interview guest this week. Can you start by telling us how you got into tourism?
EC: Hi Tine. Many thanks for inviting me here. Well I believe it came quite naturally. A lot of love and passion for history, nature, people, literature and a childhood spent in a country where travel and exploration was forbidden for my nation. It was a way of getting out of the sad reality of dictatorship and the most natural way to escape from the greyness of Stalinism and a gateway into a free World.
NDE: I’m interested to know how you made that transition from Stalinism to tourism?
EC: I was born in 1976 the year when Albania broke with its last international partner (China). Growing up there was very little hope we could be part of the world and get to know it. Meanwhile I was somehow allowed to learn foreign languages and still fill my time with books and movies telling about adventures, traditions, lifestyles. All those combined pushed me into jumping into a training course with USAID in 1995 to learn how to be a tour operator and later on to develop tour guiding skills. Albania was certainly out of the tourism map in the 90s but in the 2000s the country ended up in a difficult transitory period. The wars in neighbouring former Yugoslavia ended and the perspective of us being part of the world started to open up. I went to Geneva and studied French Language and Civilisations and gained a Master of Arts degree in Development Studies. I went back to Tirana after six years and my perspective into tourism opened up. I ‘jumped in’ and loved the waters I started to navigate in. All went fine and I am very happy with my choice. The first shock came with Covid-19 but I am sure we will go over this.
NDE: We sure will. Albania has come a long way in a short space of time. Can you walk us through the years of transformation of Albania tourism from your perspective growing up in the 70s and 80’s?
EC: Albania had been on the path of international travellers in the 19th century to a certain extent. Western travellers started to explore this far west corner of the Ottoman Empire in that century and were looking for the glory of antiquity and the exoticism of the Levante in my country in those times. Well two World Wars and Stalinism didn’t help develop those advantages. There was very little tourism in the years of the Communist dictatorship apart from some groups from members of Communist movements from around the world. I lived in Tirana city centre and had the chance to see those guys roam around my neighbourhood but had almost zero chance to have any interaction with them. The 1990s were probably the most difficult part for my country to really understand what the world was really like and what International visitors were expecting from us. I worked with International journalists and photographers in those years as a fixer and translator and got the message that one day Albania would become a tourist destination, as my friends could see the right material was there: history, nature, tradition, lifestyle, food etc.
Who could ever have imagined that the small amounts of visitors that timidly started to go to Albania in the beginning of mid 2000s would convert into millions of tourists by the end of the 2010s? Well that’s the case and Albania is slowly but surely opening up a small interesting space for itself on the map of the European continent and the Mediterranean shores.
NDE: That’s a fascinating insight Elton. Who are these millions who come to visit Albania?
EC: As Albania is still unknown and unexplored it has managed to get the attention of very high quality travellers from the West in the last couple of decades. But recently it has also become a target of mass tourism with visitors coming to profit from its shores on the Mediterranean, the peaks of the Dinaric Alps and the still affordable prices. The latter are not always the best visitors Albania could hope for and it seems there is a need for us and the authorities to understand better, and to be faster at deciding, the path Albania will need to take on its development and offer.
NDE: Well this seems like a good moment to look at your company, Albanian Trip. Tell us about your operation and which visitors you are targeting?
EC: We like to consider ourselves as a small boutique experience designer. We love to refer to big factories producing clothes for the masses and to small boutiques where a maestro will design and tailor your suit so that it really best fits your body. Well that’s how we love to design our tours. We like to talk to travellers, measure their interests, cut the experience together with them and of course get the communities around involved and interested. We try to find the specialty in the known and unknown areas we operate in. We think there are small secrets hiding in all famous places and we love to dig for them.
Our visitors are in most cases very well experienced, educated, interested travellers. We do not like to call them tourists. We try to consider them as being cousins and friends that come to visit us and all we want is for them to be happy with how we have set up their journey.
NDE: And is it just Albania that you sell?
EC: We of course operate all over Albania but with almost 15 years of experience, we have managed to build up an amazing set of knowledge and expertise in the Balkan countries as well. We travel a lot in Montenegro, Kosovo, Croatia, Northern Macedonia, Greece, Bosnia and a bit more rarely in Serbia, Bulgaria and Slovenia as well. One day we will probably be able to start operating in Southern Italy where there is also, we believe, a great deal more to learn about our kind of Mediterranean and where the footprints of the Balkanics — Albanian and Greeks- are very very visible.
NDE: How do you go about getting new business? What do you do to market yourselves?
EC: To be honest it started as a very weak effort. Of course social media and word of mouth helped a lot. We tried to make happy guests and then have them spread the word on to friends, associations etc. It really helped at the start. We managed to get a great reputation and our website, although modest, was a great way of telling what we were about and how we approached travel. Then as we gained financial strength we started participating in international travel shows from where we got more networking opportunities with larger international tour operators, though we always aimed at a sustainable boutique demand from Western partners.
We did have chances to work with large famous tour operators but we saw that we did not have the same kind of approach to business so we even refused a couple of financially very profitable offers. Nowadays we have quite a reputation, have been members and active in ATTA, were awarded as one of the World Top Tour Operators by Condé Nast (specialising in Albania and the Balkans in 2021) and got a real amazing number of fantastic partners we work with. Of course we keep active and open to direct travellers as well, who find us via our website or from various printed and online publications where we are also marketed.
NDE: How has Covid-19 affected you and Albanian Trip?
EC: We were of course affected by the pandemic and we did panic we would be left with no business for longer than we could exist. Certainly the last year was no holiday for us but that said so many online activities, fairs, meetings and projects we believe have started to give positive results already in 2021. We managed to work pretty well in Spring and Summer 2021 in collaboration with some earlier partners and some new ones too, as well as catering for many individual visitors. We are looking forward to a new healthy and wealthy Fall 2021 and of course to a much better 2022.
NDE: Since you raise the subject of fairs: you took part, online, in New Deal Europe in 2021 and we’d like to thank you for your support. What did you think about the event and will you be coming to NDE 2022?
All last year was spent with Zoom and online meetings and events. Some of those I went to because I had friends inviting me and it was interesting. Some of them I went to because I had people inviting me and they needed numbers. (LOL). Some of them I went to because I hoped I would know people and I would make networks. I went to some of the major online events in tourism. In most of them I hardly understood where to enter, how to roam and where to exit from. So many were useless. I can say (really not because of you being here) that there was hardly any event in 2020 and 2021 that made as much practical sense as the last NDE. Really — how genius to have a list of real confirmed meetings with real confirmed partners, with real measured times, with proper presented communication! Definitely I was amazed by the quality of that event. It was an exhausting day but hey — I have been in many fairs so far, but never had so many interesting meetings that seem to want to convert into proper business in the coming seasons. Some might already happen next year, if all goes well. If I see that happening you will need to shoot me to keep me away from the NDA 2022 door. Lol.
NDE: That’s really good to hear, Elton. Thank you. We’ll certainly let you know when the next event is fixed, and we plan an announcement this month. But turning back to the effect of the pandemic, how is the situation now? Has there been an increase in tourism in recent months as Europe starts to reopen, and how do you see this developing?
EC: We did a lot so far. The situation was great and the infections almost disappeared from Albania and the region. But the end of August came with a rise in infections and some of the countries in the region seem to be in an alarming situation. We are slightly worried this might negatively affect the international markets which up to now have recognised the fact that Albania and the region are free from crowds, totally open and have no high risk to infect visitors. We really hope this will calm down as soon as possible and the rest of Fall and, why not, Winter as well, will be a good moment for our sector.
NDE: I was one of the recent visitors to your beautiful country and I could see that the tourism offer in Albania is quickly catching up with that of other more known tourism hotspots. How do you think the country is handling this?
EC: There is so much enthusiasm about this, and that is great and understandable, but I am worried that we are just running to make up for lost time and we do not understand that we need to take time and consider the direction we should go in to best suit our destination. Many of us have been amazing at learning fast and putting in life methods and models that could really make for a great, refined, careful and profitable future for the whole country and the communities involved in this sector. However others, including decision making authorities, are dreaming of modernising quickly and are finding their model in the 5 star resorts of Turkey, Spain or, even worse, Dubai.
As a nation we need to travel some more. There is a big gap among us in that regard. We have started, and I can sense that we are opening up and we are good at learning fast, but ideally we should not make the mistakes some neighbours have made in the Mediterranean and then rethink everything, as I’m not sure we will be able to afford fixing our mistakes in 10 or 20 years’ time. Some of the damage can be irreparable. So there’s a bit of both amazing and wrong developments. There is hope and there is need for hard work.
NDE: Let’s zone in on the things which give you hope. What might they be?
EC: We have recently started what we called the Albanian Responsible Travel Initiative (ARTI). We want to make it a tool of best practice, to help develop sustainable initiatives, to incentivise the conservation of nature, culture and traditions, and to do research into original local ways to deliver a more interesting and attractive hospitality service industry. There are others that understand this and want to develop just like us. But hey: maybe we are too naïve, too focused on the short term, too wrong. This is going to be a challenge. We will certainly win and will certainly loose some fights…but the general battle is for the common good and Albanians need to be fighting hard with themselves and against counter productive international pressure. Let’s see who will win…
We are looking forward to a new healthy and wealthy Fall 2021 and of course to a much better 2022.
NDE: At NDE we too are very passionate about sustainability and responsibility in tourism particularly with respect to the nature and towards the people and communities. When it comes to developing tourism experiences and products I can clearly see that this is one of your main passions. The Albanian government is proposing a new sustainable initiative in tourism. How do you think this is progressing?
EC: I am worried authorities do not have this as a priority. Yes they mention it — sustainability sounds really sexy in the mouths of central and local authorities but I am worried and afraid because for many of them it does not make sense, or very little sense, in reality. For so many of us in Albania, tourism means hotels with thousands of rooms, 10 million tourists a year or beaches loaded with chaise longs so that there is no room on them to throw an apple. There are some members of the tourism related institutions that are really great at all this — like many operators of the National Agency of the Protected Areas. But I wish I could see more action in this regard. I would love the authorities to make it clear that before dreaming of letting in many millions of people, Albania will make sure not to ruin its environment, its nature, its traditions and the life of the people in and around the tourist areas.
If the prices will grow because of the tourism offer, many locals that are only farmers or school teachers will have difficulties in supporting their families. If there will be a hundred clubs around the beach areas playing loud music our children or older parents will have their nights destroyed. If there will be an airport in every protected area, our birds and fauna will disappear. Is this really what we want for our future?
NDE: You are very clear about the challenges facing the development of tourism in your country? What is your vision of the future of tourism in Albania?
EC: I see different shades of colours in it. I am afraid some areas, especially along the coast, will develop as you and me do not want to see it happen. In some areas the damage is already done and there will need to be a huge effort to get back to more sustainable practices. Some areas in the North have also been damaged by unnatural development lacking in both character and in care of natural resources. But there are some other amazing examples of will, understanding and imagination to do the things properly, authentically and with great emphasis on preservation, proper modernisation and sustainability.
I think like everywhere else in the countries where tourism became a tool of growth and economic development, there will be dark and bright corners. I hope the second ones will prevail. My colleagues, friends and I are doing our best to make sure the weight will be on the positive side. We Albanians are young, smart and willing to change. I am sure we will understand what the real positive change is. It will take a bit more time but I am sure we will get the concept. Not there yet though…
NDE: I guess the elephant in the room is still the amount of rubbish you can see throughout many countries in the Balkans. How do you think this can be tackled?
EC: It is quite a disgusting thing to see this spread all over my country. I wish I could put a thousand visitors from abroad together to tell my people this a thousand times a day until we really understand that we are in a war here. There is no more war of Kalashnikovs, communists and imperialists, partisans and fascists. If there is a war we need to start fighting it is the invasion of our country from all this tremendous amount of trash, wrapping boxes, plastic and so on. It does make me really angry and offended to see how so many of my conationals, but also foreign visitors, do not understand that sitting at the beach for two hours and leaving 5 cigarette butts each, makes the beach eligible to become a disgusting cigarette ashtray in less than 5 years. Do I really want to see my kids go sunbathe on cigarette butts? I am big fan of a big campaign in Albania to bring back the sense of shame to us for our own bad behaviour. I want each one of us to understand that driving a fancy car, wearing an expensive watch, showing around a beautiful six pack or ass does not make you eligible to be part of the real cool part of humanity. If you treat earth the way many of us do, it means you are a backward primitive human and you should feel ashamed of that. I am sure shame is something that works for Albanians’ pride. It’s just that many of us are not aware that what we do is not proper. Most of us do not even notice. Or we expect the authorities to come and clean it up or expect some holy power to make garbage disappear. It is tragicomic what happens in so many cases.
Anyway I believe that we should also educate more, punish more, set up more ways of processing waste and first of all produce less garbage. All the companies that keep wrapping their things in a million ways and materials should pay a large tax and be given a deadline after which they can’t keep doing this anymore. We lived for 45 years under communism with very little or no garbage produced by fancy boxes and bags. I bet we can go back to find some little positive aspects in that, and still manage to have a life. Eventually — a better one!
NDE: I think you’ve addressed that one! Let’s focus now on all the positives your country has to offer, and there are many. Can you tell us which are your favourite spots in Albania and when is your favourite time of the year to visit them?
EC: Oh it’s such a cool country. So diverse, so rich and so unusual. The isolation has done a lot of damage to us but quite a few good things too to maintain and preserve the ‘secrets’. There’s still many of those. I do love the many diverse aspects of it. The nature and the mountains in the North, the softness and the blue shores of the South, the genuineness of the food, the hospitality of the people, the warmth of its sun and the contrasts of its peaks. But I believe there is one thing in Albania that stands above all that. Its people: direct, real, interested, interesting, open, shameless, brutal, fine, rural, urban, paranoid, careful, welcoming, irresponsible. What a great combination of a special mix of Mediterranean, Balkanic, European breeds! I think they are the real monument to be explored and discovered in Albania. They have many different faces. Some can irritate, some can charm. But I doubt there is room for boredom when dealing with them.
Anyway when it comes to favourite geographical spots in Albania: hm.. Butrint in winter, Korçë in Spring, Vlorë in Summer, the Alps in August, Berat in anytime, Valbonë in Fall, Tirana anytime except July and August, Lake Shkodra in July, Dibra and Korabi in June, the list goes on and on,…
Who could ever have imagined that the small amounts of visitors that timidly started to go to Albania in the beginning of mid 2000s would convert into millions of tourists by the end of the 2010s?
NDE: Thanks for this comprehensive list Elton. We all have some exploring to do in your amazing country, and thank you for being our guest this week. We definitely look forward to seeing you at the next New Deal Europe in April 2022.
EC: So many thanks to you Tine! Lovely to have been on this chat. I really hope this is not the last one we have! See you soon again…
New Deal Europe is the only travel market platform dedicated to generating business to the Balkan region of Europe, www.newdealeurope.com. Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newdealeurope.
