The Albanian Embassy in Russia has announced that visa-free travel for Russian citizens is currently suspended, which indicates that Russian citizens that plan to travel to the country have to apply for an Albanian visa prior to their trip.
According to a press release by the authority, the new measure is effective all year round, while previously, Russian citizens could visit Albania from May 1 until September 30 without applying for a visa, VisaGuide.World reports.
“The Embassy of the Republic of Albania in the Russian Federation informs that in accordance with the amendments of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Albania dated April 20, 2023, the Decree No. 858 dated December 29, 2021, cancels the visa-free regime for citizens of the Russian Federation (annually from May 01 to September 30),” the authority explains in a press release.
A dilemma on whether Russian citizens should become subject to a visa regime concerned Albanian tour operators last year, with some saying the country is welcoming to all types of tourists and politics and business should be separated.
Another tour operator also pointed out that the government should find a way to filter out tourists but, bottom line, people shouldn’t be prohibited from visiting the country or going on a holiday.
On the other hand, Besnik Vathi, who is also a tour operator, noted that there aren’t many Russian tourists visiting the country anyway.
“They started flying with direct charters in 2019, it got suspended in 2020, and then there were some limited flights last year. But if we weigh in the total, the figure is insignificant”, Vathi said.
In general, tour operators share the same approach and agree that banning Russian tourists shouldn’t be an option. In the last six years, a total of 132,000 Russian holidaymakers have come to Albania to enjoy their vacations.
The Albanian tourism sector is preparing for a successful season as, in January alone, it has experienced an almost 100 percent increase in the number of tourists. INSTAT, the Albanian data statistics agency, reveals that 377,211 foreign tourists visited the country in January, compared to 194,237 recorded in 2022, representing a 94.2 percent increase.
In 2022, almost 7.5 million people visited Albania, which is 32 percent more than in the preceding year, proving that Albanian tourism is set to keep improving and strengthening, despite the COVID-19 restrictions impacting the industry. The Russian military attack on Ukraine has also impacted the tourism sector in Albania, and the latter is dedicated to improving those rates in 2023.
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