Tourists "abandon" the capital, consumption in Tirana's bars and restaurants drops 20%

Unlike last year, during this period of the year in Tirana, there is a noticeable lack of foreign tourists in areas near the center.

The decline in the number of foreign visitors has also affected the reduction in consumption in the capital's bars and restaurants.

Enri Jahja, president of the Association of Bars and Restaurants, told Monitor that compared to January last year, consumption for these structures has dropped by 20%.

According to him, the main cause of the decrease in consumption is the decrease in the number of tourists and the decline in purchasing power among locals.

"Last year in January, bars and restaurants in Tirana saw a high number of foreign tourists. The flow of foreign tourists visiting Tirana in 2024 was unusual for the month of January. For January 2025, it is noted that there is a significant decrease in foreign tourists.

This has led to a decline in the consumption of coffee, alcoholic beverages and food in restaurants. Other factors affecting consumption continue to be rising prices and the continued decline in consumption by locals. For locals, rising prices and emigration are the main factors influencing the downward trend in consumption.”

Jahja predicts that there will be an improvement in consumption from March, mainly in coastal areas, while in Tirana and other cities, the consumption trend will continue to fluctuate.

Throughout 2025, the performance is expected to be good, but there will be many fluctuations, as it has also started to feel the seasonality of tourism. In some cities such as: Lezhë, Vlorë, Saranda, etc., there have been temporary closures of businesses, only to reopen again as the summer season approaches. This is because we do not have satisfactory consumption levels and that staff maintenance costs have doubled", he stated earlier.

Jahja underlines that Albania still has a very strong fragmentation of the sector. But according to him, a redistribution or self-regulation has begun in HoReCa that is expected to continue until the market normalizes.

There are a total of 15.5 thousand bars in the country, down from 22 thousand in 2015, making it the second most popular activity in the country, after retail business. According to data from the INSTAT business register, 854 food and beverage service activities were closed in 2021, a decrease of 5.2%. According to INSTAT data, by 2019, 45,000 people were employed in this sector. The number of employees is considered higher, due to informality.

The difficulty in finding employees, as well as the informality of their salaries, continues to be a serious problem for the sector. In 2023, the Association of Bars and Restaurants estimated a shortage of 15,000 employees in this sector.

The Chairman of the Bars and Restaurants Association, Enri Jahja, says that it is expected to continue with the policy of increasing salaries and the additional cost will be reflected in prices for the final consumer./ Monitor