Albergo diffuso. Developing tourism through innovation and tradition. The case of Albania

Brunilda Liçaj Lecturer “ A.Moisiu” University of Durrës

Albergo diffuso.Developing tourism through innovation and

tradition. The case of Albania

The 1th International Conference for Graduate Research in Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure

1 October 2010 -Shkoder, Albania

BRUNILDA LIҪAJ - Candidate PhD“A. Moisiu” University - Durres, Albania

ARMADA MOLLA - MSsChairwoman – ADCT Association for Development of Cultural Tourism, Tirana Albania

“PEEPING” TOURIST A CASE STUDY OF THE UNIQUE STATE TOURIST

AGENCY IN ALBANIA ALBTURIST

This information is confidential and was prepared by Bain & Company solely for the use of our client; it is not to be relied on by any 3rd party without Bain's prior written consent.This information is confidential and was prepared by Bain & Company solely for the use of our client; it is not to be relied on by any 3rd party without Bain's prior written consent.

ABSTRACT

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OBJECTIVES

To analyze the development of the Albanian tourism under State Agency

called ALBTURIST (1956-1990)

To make present the role of Albturist “promoting” the Albanian tourism

To enlight the role of Albturist in surveillance of tourists

METHODOLOGY - Research and analysis

Resources:

Original records from the Albanian State Archives

Articles published both in Albanian and foreign press of that period

Memories of former employees of this agency

KEYWORDS: tourism, communism period, promotion, tourist survey, intelligence

surveillance


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1. INTRODUCTION

5. CONCLUSION

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

4. “PEEPING TOURIST”

2. THE ALBANIAN TOURISM DURING THE COMMUNIST ERA

3. THE STATE TOURISM ENTERPRISE “ALBTURIST”

TABLES OF CONTENTS


INTRODUCTION –KEY FACT-1

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The tourism sector in Albania experienced a

late development ;

The earliest investments through the

beginning of 20th century;

1928 King Zog speaks about the

improvements that he wanted to do in

order to attract tourists;

1933 founded “The Tourism and

Albanian automotive Club”;

1939 The first Albanian Guide in Italian

Language ;First edition of

“Guida dell’Albania” Touring Club Italiano 1939


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INTRODUCTION –KEY FACT- 2

The touristic Albanian property

layout consist off:

8 Historical centers,

75 town,

115 religion cults

(Churches, Monasteries,

Mosque, hundred

bridges)etc

Source: VLORA. K. A.(1979)

La nuova Albania


GRAND HOTEL ELBASAN ‘30

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ABANIAN TOURISTIC ASSETS & INFRASTRUCTURE

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Source : Albanian State’s Archive

Xhamia e Haxhi Ethem Beut' E’Them Bey Mosque

1794-1821 (building period)

The famous Kafja e MadheThe Grand Café

Or Grand Hotel SAVOIAShkodra

Kulla e SahatitTirana Clock Tower

1822


ALBANIAN TOURISM 1945-1990

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The services have influence in the distribution of prosperity,

but they do not have influence in

GDP configuration

Government was the only

authority of tourism monopoly

Based its policy on the ideology of Karl Marx's

theory

Marginal role in the economy


ALBANIAN TOURISM DURING THE COMMUNIST ERA

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Table 1: The distribution of the balneary center in national level

Years 1970 1975 1980 1987

Balneary center 6 6 6 6

Beds 405 640 700 640

Vacantioner 6.871 8.666 11.759 13.523

Communist ideology:

Private property was

totally abolished;

Socialist property of two

typically forms;

the state property

the cooperatives

Source: ISTAT Albania


THE TOURISTIC PRODUCTS DURING THE COMMUNIST REGIME (1945-1990)

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Albturist Tourism in holiday villages

Tourism in the government holidays centers

The private Tourism

Massive tourismThe Tourism of Events

Medical Tourism


STATE TOURISM ENTREPRISE- ALBTURIST

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ALBTURIST: Founded 1956

Specific condition:

Alliances between the socialist camp countries;

KNER (Council of Mutual Emergency Aid) meeting held in 1956)

“Albania should be the touristic destination for the KNER's countries”


ALBTURIST ACTIVITIES

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Main directions Main directions Main directions Main directions

NetworkOf

Hotel Tourism

Bus networkAlbturist

“Promotion” of Tourism as

Demagogy


ALBTURIST TOURISM HOTEL AND STATISTICS

YearsNr. of tourist

Presents Over night Income ($)

1956 280 3.612 12.09 23.000

1960 6065 85.516 14.01 409.000

1970 3.531 19.985 7.09 380.000

1980 3.748 39.491 10.05 1.475.000

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Table 2: The foreign tourists in Albania recorded in several years

Source: ISTAT Albania

ALBTURIST HOTEL

1.Hotel Vollga Durres ( 1938)2.Hotel Dajti Tirane ( 1939-1943)

Capacity 98 luxury room3.King Zog's summer residence 4.Hotel Adriatic (1958) 54 rooms (3 suites and 51 double rooms)5.Hotel Apollonia ((1961-1962)6.Hotel Kruja (1961-1962)7.Hotel Durresi (1961-1962)8.Hotel Gjirokastra ( 1963)9.Hotel Fieri (1965)10.Hotel Vlora, 11.Hotel Korca12.Hotel Shkodra,13.Hotel Saranda14.Hotel Drini etc.,


FOREIGN VISITOR ORIGINE

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Before 1961

Soviet Union

Czech

The role of ALBTURIST

change when it starts to organize

National Folk Festivals

Comunist block

China

Austria

France

Italy, Sweden

1961-1980


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Aircraft companies Aircraft companies

JAT MalevInterflugSwiss Air (1968 )Tirana to ZurichLufthansa 1987

Statistics1960-1990

The Albanian Tourism Statistics shown a law scale of tourism

industry development which range to 1.6% of the tourism industry

developed in the Albanian’ neighbors Greece or Yugoslavia

AEROPORT : ONLY ENTRANCE

“the man bearded travelers were shave off and

cut the long hairs, while the female tourists

dressed on miniscirts and long trausers ala-

western style replaced with local dress

produced in the country, before they cross the

borders”

Source: The memories of a German journalist: “Der Spiegel” 30.06.1975

E. Hoxha: Chez nous le tourisme n'est pas une industrie ni un moyen de corruption et de vagabondage.


TOURISTIC PROPAGANDA OF ALBTURIST propaganda

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BROCHURESBROCHURES

• Albanie Pays de Tourism (Albturist 1958)

• Guide d'Albanie (avec un petit Manuel de conversation) Albturist, 1958

• Albanien. A Handbook for New vanner, vetgiriga Stockholm 1976

• pocket-size Tourist guide book was published in the late 1960 (Albturist, 1969)

Even this....

Hall

described the role of Albturist:

'the tourist finds his/her role

becoming one of passive sponge'

HOTEL ALBTURIST PROMOTION’S LEAFLETS HOTEL ALBTURIST PROMOTION’S LEAFLETS

Source : Archiva of States


PEEPING TOURIST

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TOURIST FACTS

1. Entry visa system in Albania was very tight

2.People from Israel, USA, and South Africa were not allowed

3.Visitors should follow the rules in terms of behavior and way of dressing

4.Not allowed for religious materials or other materials against the ideology of the state

5.Not allowed cameras and photographic equipments

6.Tourist group no more than 30 person, organised with bus

7.Tourism in Albania developed just after the Enver Hoxha’s death (1985)


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GUIDES AND MAGAZINES dedicated ALBANIA

Dutch Magazine: International Times 1979

ALBANIE Emanuel ZAKHOS

Petite Planète


TOURISTS ‘ REAMRKS

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Albturist have shiny and new coaches for trucking visitors around…

…You feel embarrassingly flash and it's like being in a fish tank being peered at like human UFOs, even though you're wearing your drabbest gear.

…You're not allowed to take local buses or go off alone anywhere.

Source: The memories of a German journalist: “Der Spiegel” 30.06.1975

The hotels, mainly- Russian built, are huge with vast ' dining halls with pillars, chandeliers, drapes and marble floors


INSTEAD OF RESORTS.... “MUSHROOMS”750.000 bunkers were build in Albanian

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MEDIA AND ART in the FUNCTION OF PROPAGANDA

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Albanian Filmic fragments show the state security activities towards the foreign touris (“Peeping tourist”)

An extremely sophisticated surveillance of the foreign visitors “the rhetoric of xenophobia of the Albanian state” in the name of safety of the host population and foreign guest.

Albania was the 1st place in East Europe statistics for the usage of the slogans along its roads, whose traces are still alive and inevitable


CONCLUSIONS

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1. The fewer interest of the Albanian Communist Government in development of the Albanian tourism was as the result of "isolation policy” of the regime.

2. The need for foreign currency as the result of trade import & export led the government to give more attention to the Tourism industry as the only foreign currency resource.

3. The Tourism role change in the late '80

4. The final countdown begun as the tourists interest to Albania grow up immediately.

5. Actually, The Albanian tourism has the helmsman status of the Albanian economy


The promise future of the Albanian Tourism

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Albania easy to get in, hard to

get out


REFERENCES

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Albania Moving Along, But Slowly, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,Report on Eastern Europe, 2, No. 1, January 5, 1990.Anamali,S and Adhami,S.(1974Mosaiques de l’Albanie. Tirana:8 Nentori.Collombon, J.M (2001) Le tourism solidaire en zones rurales du sud de l’Albanie. Technical report.Ducellier, A.(1981) La facada marittime de L'Albanie au Moyen Age.Insitute for Balkan Studies:ThessaloniquesEconomist (1977) “Hoxha's happy land “Economist 263, 14 May 54–7 Economist (1978) “Tales from Albania's beaches” Economist 266, 4 March 50 Freedman, Robert Owen.(1970) Economic Warfare in the Communist Bloc: A Study of Soviet Economic Pressure Against Yugoslavia, Albania, and Communist China. New York: Praeger, Hall, D.R. (1994) Albania and the Albanians, Pinter: London Hall, D.R. (1990) Stalinism and tourism: a study of Albania and North Korea .Annals of Tourism Research 1, 36–54 Hall, Dr. (1984) Foreign tourism under socialism: the Albanian “Stalinist” model. Annals of Tourism Research 11Jenkins,L.(1976) Albania the land of eagles. Port Talbot Guardian: 13April.Karin, T (2011). From trips to modernity to holidays in nostalgia: tourism history in eastern and southeastern Europe.Tension of Europe/ Inventing Europe: Working paper WP_2011Kaser, M. Albania under and after Enver Hoxha. Joint Economic: United States Congress, 99th, 2d Session,1-21Marmullaku, R.(1975) Albania and the Albanians” Hamden, New York: Archon BooksP. Sandstorm and O. Sjoberg (1991) Albanian economic performance: Stagnation in the 1980. Soviet Studies, 43(5):931 947Panarity.M.(1957) Albania: The Rock Garden of Southeastern Europe and Other Essays. Boston: Pan-Albanian Federation of AmericaSalmon, S.( 2006) Marketing socialism: Inturist in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Gorsuch A E and Koenker D P Turizm: the Russian and East European tourist under capitalism and socialism Cornell University Press, Ithaca NY 186–204 Skendi, S (1956) Albania. New York: Praeger.


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Brunilda LICAJ “A.Moisiu” University Durrës

[email protected]

ARMADA MOLLA ADCT

(Association for Development of Cultural Tourism)

[email protected]

Documents

Albergo diffuso. Developing tourism through innovation and tradition. The case of Albania