RECOVERY IN A RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE TOURISM BY ARIOLA MEREPEZA *
T
JP TRAIBLAZING MAGAZINE
he current situation
According to the United Nations,
of Covid-19, which
international tourism could decline
affected Albania and
by 60-80 per cent in 2020 due to
the whole world, is an
the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting
opportunity to take
in the revenue loss of $910 billion
measures to make tourism more
to $1.2 trillion and placing millions
powerful, sustainable and resilient
of livelihoods at risk. Today over
to these occurrences.
100 million jobs directly related
Tourism is an important part of
to tourism are at risk. Apart from
many national economies and
this direct impact, the tourism
the immediate shock to the
economy is also linked to many
tourism sector, resulting from the
other sectors including construction,
coronavirus pandemic, is affecting
agriculture, distribution services
the wider economy.
and transportation, all of which exacerbate the size of the shock. In Albania, tourism is considered as one of the main sectors of national economic development. The National Tourism Development Strategy states that this sector contributed $ 1.12 billion to the economy, though if indirect effect is also considered, the contribution is thought to be three times higher ($ 3.47 billion), which otherwise accounts for 26.2% of Gross Domestic Product. Resilient and sustainable tourism
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