
At least 4.5 million local and foreign tourists have visited the protected areas in the past year. Despite the good progress of tourism in the country, it seems that the natural one has suffered a contraction in relation to 2022. The Ministry of Tourism and Environment in its periodic statistics of the sector admits that there is a slight decrease according to the figures reported by the National Agency of Natural Areas Protection.
"Regarding natural tourism, the data from the National Agency of Native Areas, who have visited our protected areas. Based on the data brought from the protected areas, there is a moderate decrease of 1.7% compared to the number of visitors during the previous year," the report states.
The figures in these areas often do not reflect the real situation because the sector still has informality or a lack of systems that can control the exact number of visitors.
But which are the protected areas that had the most visitors last year? According to the data, an obvious decline is observed in the Korça region, which in 2022 held the lead. This year, it is Shkodra that stands at the top in terms of the number of visitors, while Fieri and Vlora come after it.
Meanwhile, about 2 million foreign and local visitors have visited the National Parks of our country during the year 2023. This year marks a 40.2% increase compared to the previous year. The most visited national park is Divjakë-Karavasta, the Albanian Alps and Tomorri Mountain.
There are 425,000 visitors who visited the Natural Monuments in 2023, this value marks a decrease of 0.5% compared to 2022. The Thermal Waters of Bênja, Shënandoit and Sarisalltik Caves are the most visited Natural Monuments for the year 2023.
Shkoda Lake, Syri i Kaltër and Qafeshtama were the most visited Nature Reserves during 2023.