1. P
The 1th International Conference
for Graduate Research in Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure
1 October Shkoder, Albania
“PEEPING” TOURIST
A CASE STUDY OF THE UNIQUE STATE TOURIST AGENCY IN ALBANIA
ALBTURIST
Albergo diffuso. Developing tourism through innovation and tradition. The case of Albania
BRUNILDA LIҪAJ - Candidate PhD
“A. Moisiu” University - Durres, Albania
ARMADA MOLLA - MSs
Chairwoman – ADCT
Association for Development of Cultural Tourism, Tirana Albania
Brunilda Liçaj
Lecturer “ A.Moisiu” University of Durrës
The objective of our meeting today is to share with you some background on Bain’s brand and how we all should be thinking about living our brand, communicating our brand and projecting our brand consistently in all of our actions.

2. ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES
To analyze the development of the Albanian tourism under State Agency called ALBTURIST ( )
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

3. TABLES OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE ALBANIAN TOURISM DURING THE COMMUNIST ERA
3. THE STATE TOURISM ENTERPRISE “ALBTURIST”
4. “PEEPING TOURIST”
5. CONCLUSION
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

4. INTRODUCTION –KEY FACT-1
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

5. 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

6. GRAND HOTEL ELBASAN ‘30

7. ABANIAN TOURISTIC ASSETS & INFRASTRUCTURE
Kulla e Sahatit
Tirana Clock Tower
1822
Xhamia e Haxhi Ethem Beut' E’Them Bey Mosque
(building period)
The famous Kafja e Madhe
The Grand Café
Or Grand Hotel SAVOIA
Shkodra
Source : Albanian State’s Archive

8. ALBANIAN TOURISM 1945-1990 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

9. ALBANIAN TOURISM DURING THE COMMUNIST ERA
Communist ideology:
Private property was totally abolished;
Socialist property of two typically forms;
the state property
the cooperatives
Table 1: The distribution of the balneary
center in national level
Years
1970
1975
1980
1987
Balneary center 6
Beds
405
640
700
Vacantioner
6.871
8.666
11.759
13.523
Source: ISTAT Albania

10. THE TOURISTIC PRODUCTS DURING THE COMMUNIST REGIME (1945-1990)
Massive tourism
The Tourism of Events
The private Tourism
Albturist
Tourism in holiday villages
Medical Tourism
Tourism in the government
holidays centers

11. STATE TOURISM ENTREPRISE- ALBTURIST
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”

12. ALBTURIST ACTIVITIES Main directions Network Bus network Of Albturist
Hotel Tourism
Bus network
Albturist
“Promotion”
of Tourism as
Demagogy

13. ALBTURIST TOURISM HOTEL AND STATISTICS
ALBTURIST HOTEL
Hotel Vollga Durres ( 1938)
Hotel Dajti Tirane ( )
Capacity 98 luxury room
King Zog's summer residence
Hotel Adriatic (1958) 54 rooms (3 suites and 51 double rooms)
Hotel Apollonia (( )
Hotel Kruja ( )
Hotel Durresi ( )
Hotel Gjirokastra ( 1963)
Hotel Fieri (1965)
Hotel Vlora,
Hotel Korca
Hotel Shkodra,
Hotel Saranda
Hotel Drini etc.,
Table 2: The foreign tourists in Albania recorded in several years
Source: ISTAT Albania
Years
Nr. of tourist
Presents
Over night
Income ($)
1956
280
3.612
12.09
23.000
1960
6065
85.516
14.01
1970
3.531
19.985
7.09
1980
3.748
39.491
10.05

14. FOREIGN VISITOR ORIGINE
The role of ALBTURIST
change when it starts to organize
National Folk Festivals
Before 1961
Soviet Union
Czech
Comunist
block
France
China
Austria
Italy, Sweden

15. AEROPORT : ONLY ENTRANCE
Aircraft companies
E. Hoxha: Chez nous le tourisme n'est pas une industrie ni un moyen de corruption et de vagabondage.
JAT
Malev
Interflug
Swiss Air (1968 )Tirana to Zurich
Lufthansa 1987
“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”
Statistics
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
Source: The memories of a German journalist:
“Der Spiegel”

16. TOURISTIC PROPAGANDA OF ALBTURIST propaganda
HOTEL ALBTURIST PROMOTION’S LEAFLETS
BROCHURES
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'
Source : Archiva of States

17. PEEPING TOURIST

18. TOURIST FACTS Entry visa system in Albania was very tight
People from Israel, USA, and South Africa were not allowed
Visitors should follow the rules in terms of behavior and way of dressing
Not allowed for religious materials or other materials against the ideology of the state
Not allowed cameras and photographic equipments
Tourist group no more than 30 person, organised with bus
Tourism in Albania developed just after the Enver Hoxha’s death (1985)

19. GUIDES AND MAGAZINES dedicated ALBANIA
Dutch Magazine:
International Times 1979
ALBANIE
Emanuel ZAKHOS
Petite Planète

20. Source: The memories of a German journalist:
TOURISTS ‘ REAMRKS
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.
The hotels, mainly- Russian built, are huge with vast ' dining halls with pillars, chandeliers, drapes and marble floors
Source: The memories of a German journalist:
“Der Spiegel”

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

22. MEDIA AND ART in the FUNCTION OF PROPAGANDA
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

23. CONCLUSIONS
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

24. The promise future of the Albanian Tourism
easy to get in, hard to get out

25. REFERENCES
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:Thessaloniques
Economist (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 11
Jenkins,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_2011
Kaser, M. Albania under and after Enver Hoxha. Joint Economic: United States Congress, 99th, 2d Session,1-21
Marmullaku, R.(1975) Albania and the Albanians” Hamden, New York: Archon Books
P. Sandstorm and O. Sjoberg (1991) Albanian economic performance: Stagnation in the Soviet Studies, 43(5):
Panarity.M.(1957) Albania: The Rock Garden of Southeastern Europe and Other Essays. Boston: Pan-Albanian Federation of America
Salmon, 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.

26. (Association for Development of Cultural Tourism)
Thank You!
Brunilda LICAJ
“A.Moisiu” University Durrës
ARMADA MOLLA
ADCT
(Association for Development of Cultural Tourism)