The two countries in Albania that grabbed 50% of tourists this year!

Of the 26 natural monuments for which visitor statistics were kept, at least 50% of the total visited two of them.

The Ministry of Tourism and Environment reported that the Shënandoi Cave in Kurbin managed to attract at least 27% of visitors in the first half of the year. In second place are Banjat e Bênja in Përmet with 23% of visitors.

The third on the list, Rana e Hedhun in Shengjin.

“In the Natural Monuments category, 26 areas have been announced and only 25 of them have been visited by 44,790 visitors. Of these, 65% are local visitors and 35% are foreign visitors.

The visitors with the largest number are in the Shënandoi Cave (27%), the Thermal Waters of Bênja (23%), which is followed by Rëra e Hedhur (11%),” says the publication of the statistics.

Meanwhile, the category of National Parks, which has 12 areas, was visited by 179,624 visitors, of which 61% were local visitors and 39% were foreign visitors.

“The largest number of visitors for this category is in the Divjakë-Karavasta National Park (31%), the Albanian Alps from the part of Shkodra (19%) and the third in terms of visitation this month is the Butrint National Park with (9%) )” the document states.

According to the ministry, another element taken into analysis is the natural reserves. Thus, according to the data, 24 areas are included in the category of Managed Nature Reserves and Natural Parks and Natural Monuments.

The number of visitors for this category is 77,411, of which 61.5% are Albanian visitors. Lake Shkodra has the largest number of visitors (29%), followed by Syri I Kaltër (17%).

As for protected landscapes, 7 areas are included.

“The number of visitors who have visited these 7 areas is 107,911, of which 61.1% of visitors are Albanians.

The largest number of visitors are in the Protected Landscape of the Buna River (56%), followed by visitors to Lake Pogradec (20%),” according to the latest June statistics published by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment.

Despite the good performance of tourism this year, there is a decrease in numbers in natural tourism compared to the previous year. From January to June, nature tourism visitors were over 1.14 million with a 20% decrease compared to the same period of the previous year.