Success Stories
- Last Updated on: May 30, 2005
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Marketing of Hotels Builds Awareness of Albania as a Travel Destination
Online Booking Promotes Tourism
Marketing of Hotels Builds Awareness of Albania as a Travel Destination
May 30, 2005 | Voskopoje, Albania
For the first time, hotel rooms across Albania can be reserved and confirmed instantly through more than 3,000 websites around the world—a connection giving hoteliers across the country a tool to market their accommodations, attract tourists, and develop their businesses.
“It is great for the Akademia to be available for real time bookings on websites such as Lonely Planet,”said Dritan Naumi, Manager of the Hotel Akademia, located in the quaint, pine-filled mountain village of Voskopoje in southeastern Albania. “We look forward to making the most of our presence on the World Wide Web.”
The USAID-funded Enterprise Development and Export Market Services (EDEM) Project helped hotels around Albania establish ways to better market their accommodations to travelers.
“In Berat, we worked with the Castle Park Hotel in getting them online and into the system. It was easy to do,” said Peace Corps volunteer, Stephen Tanghe, who assisted with the registration process. “We look forward to helping other hotels use the tremendous distribution effect of internet for generating more business.”
While the Albanian tourist industry has a large regional and domestic market, it does not have the international pull of its neighbors. It has serious competition to the north and south—with Montenegro and Croatia becoming increasingly popular destinations and Greece having a well-established draw for tourists. To attract tourists, Albanian businesses have to employ the latest technologies to market their services more effectively.
The EDEM project is a component of USAID’s economic growth program to strengthen the competitiveness of Albanian small and medium enterprises in domestic and foreign markets. Albanian tour operators, travel agencies, and hotels that lack the management and technological know-how are now receiving assistance to help their businesses develop and promote Albania. EDEM provides these small businesses with help on product and service development and on networking with international and in-country tour operators.
Seven hotels in the southern regions of Albania have been registered by the program; an additional 12 hotels anticipate joining the site in the coming weeks. Rooms can be booked online for hotels in Berat, Korce, Pogradec, Saranda, Tirana, Vlore, and Voskopoje.
For EDEM tourism consultant, Scott Wayne, the momentum of this effort signifies good things to come, “We have started something, a trend that will change the marketplace and make some serious headway in getting Albania on the world tourism map.”
“The next step,” explained Wayne, “is to work with local hoteliers to add more businesses to the service. When travelers can see what accommodations are available around Albania, this will encourage them to book. In Bosnia last year, 2,840 rooms were booked through this service.”
The 2005 World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) published a report on tourism in Albania. Tourism is expected to account for 11 percent of total employment and 14 percent of Albania’s total GDP, roughly 1 in every 9 jobs and $374 million in business.
“Albania’s chief disadvantage is also interestingly its chief competitive advantage—the country is practically unknown as a tourist destination,” according to Wayne. “Independent travelers who frequent internet sites like Lonely Planet and Rough Guides seek the kind of accommodations and adventure opportunities that we are promoting.”
The service is being offered by an Irish company called Web Reservations International, which has several websites for booking small hotels.
WRI websites for bookings include the following: www.hostelworld.com, www.worldres.com, www.hostels.com, www.trav.com.
