Tourist guide for Berat

31 August 2005

Regio-Berater, an NGO focused on the development of tourism in Berat region in Albania, prepared and published a number of tourists guides for the area, with the goal to attract as many visitors as possible.

berat

The Berat region has great potentials for tourism, but is lacking in the area of visitor attendance. The region, which offers opportunities for cultural and historical tourism, as well as tracking and kayaking adventures on the Osum River, is currently best known for the Old Castle and the City of Berat itself.

�There are no credible statistics about the number of tourists. It is obvious that the figure is rising but most of them are day visitors, which is not such a profitable source of revenue for the city", said Enkeleda Olldashi, Regio-Berater Director.

�This situation is caused by the lack of information and programs to fill this gap," added Olldashi.

She adds that tourism is not only hotels, restaurants, castles and museums, but it requires great investments in marketing and advertising area.

Another problem that the organization raised with local tourist authorities is the problem of public transportation to tourist sites and attractions. At the moment, visitors can choose to go to some place by bus, for instance, but they can never have guarantees that there will be a bus back to Berat.