Rapid Assessment of Tourism Value Chain …agro-puka.org/publications/Puka Tourism Value...

RAPID ASSESSMENT OF TOURISM VALUE CHAIN DEVELOPMENT IN PUKA AREA

Rapid Assessment of Tourism Value Chain Development in Puka AreaALBANIA

November 2016

1


Rapid Assessment of Tourism Value Chain in Puka Area (Albania)

AUTHORS: SHKELZEN MARKUTOM PREKUSABAH DJALOSHI

NOVEMBER 2016

Disclaimer: This document has been prepared by AgroPuka in cooperation with Partnership for DevelopmentFoundation (PfD) with support from the We-Effect. The opinions expressed in this document are thoseof the experts and contributors, and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of AgroPuka, PfDor We-Effect. Accordingly, AgroPuka, PfD or We-Effect cannot be held responsible for any use, whichmay be made of the information contained therein.

All correspondence should be addressed to: AGROPUKA, Lagjja e Re, Puka, AlbaniaCopyright: © 2016 AGROPUKA

PUKA AREA PROFILE

Area: 1045,95 square kilometers

Population: 28,487 inhabitants (about 27,24 inhabitants/km2)

Administrative units: Puka Municipality and Fushe-Arrez Municipality, both including 76 villages

Geographical position: The Puka area lies at the central part of the Northern Albania, on the right side of Shkodra. In the north and the northeast Puka is surrounded by Has district and Tropoja, in the south, with Mirdita district, in the southwest with the district of Lezha and in the west with Shkodra.

Climate: Puka has a sub-continental climate, with relatively cold winters (lowest -3 to -10 °C), heavy precipitation (about 2020 mm/ year), snowy lasting till about April, and short fresh summer (usually between 20-22 °C and the higher reaching sometime up to about + 39 °C).

2


AcknowledgmentsThis study has benefited from support, in various forms and depths, of a large number of persons,and although we can’t mention herein all their names, we are grateful to them for their contributionand support in completion of the analysis.

The authors we would like to particularly thank the following individual for sharing with us theirexpertise, experiences, insights and suggestions: Perparim Laci, Xhimi Begeja, Astrit Kuci, Vaid Lluka,Dritan Frroku, Marjana Pashkaj, Jetmir Qafa, Tonin Bala, Dode Marinaj, Gezim Vata, Lin Marku, PetritDobi, Saimir Muslia.

A special thank you goes to the Mayor of Puka Municipality, Gjon Gjoni and the Mayor of Fushe-ArrezMunicipality, Fran Tuci, who gave generously of their time and shared with us their vision, plans andinsights about tourism sector development in their respective administrative territories.

Last but not least, we are grateful to AgroPuka team, particularly to Besmira Aliaj and Mary Lou Surgi,for their support in arranging our fieldwork as well as for their professional insights and suggestions.

3


Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY......................................................................................................................6

1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................8

1.1. Background – AgroPuka Association........................................................................................8

1.2. Purpose and Methodology of the Study..................................................................................8

2. TOURISM IN THE ALBANIAN ECONOMY........................................................................................9

3. TOURISM VALUE CHAIN IN PUKA AREA.......................................................................................11

2.1. Tourism in Puka Area.............................................................................................................11

3.1. Tourist Demand and Offer.....................................................................................................13

3.2. Information on Destinations..................................................................................................14

3.3. Transport and Infrastructure.................................................................................................14

3.4. Accommodation and Food....................................................................................................15

3.5. Activities and Leisure.............................................................................................................17

3.6. Tourist Shopping....................................................................................................................18

3.7. Tourist Services......................................................................................................................19

4. STRENGTHENING THE VALUE CHAIN AND ITS COMMUNITY IMPACTS.........................................20

4.1. SWOT analysis.......................................................................................................................20

4.2. Local Knowledge and Awareness...........................................................................................21

4.3. Information, Promotion and Marketing.................................................................................21

4.4. Product Development...........................................................................................................22

4.5. Human Resource Development.............................................................................................22

4.6. Governance and Coordination...............................................................................................23

4.7. Infrastructure and Services....................................................................................................23

4.8. Linkages and Interconnections..............................................................................................24

5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS..................................................................................25

BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................................................................................................29

4


List of figuresFigure 1. Schema of tourism value chain nodes and actors.................................................................12

Figure 2. Main tourist access points....................................................................................................15

Figure 3. Geographical distribution of tourists’ accommodation facilities...........................................16

Figure 4. Major results of the SWOT analysis of the tourism value chain...........................................20

AcronymsALL Albanian Currency - LekEU European UnionEUR EU’s Currency - EuroGDP Gross Domestic ProductionMSMEs Mini-, Small and Medium Enterprises MUTD Ministry of Urban and Tourism DevelopmentPfD Partnership for Development foundationSCC Swedish Cooperative CentreUK United KingdomUSD United States DollarWTTC World Travel and Tourism Committee

5


Executive SummaryAgroPuka, a producers’ association founded in August 2001, has implemented several projects andprovided a significant support to development of the area through a very wide range ofinterventions. This study was conducted in the context of AgroPuka’s project “To Contribute to theSustainable Improvement of the Livelihood of People in Puka Rural Areas”, funded by We-Effect(former SCC). The study aims to map out the current situation of tourism value chain in Puka area,identify gaps and potential interventions in support to development of tourism activities in thisterritory. This value chain analysis covers the entire Puka territory, extending to Puka and Fushe-Arrezmunicipalities. The study consisted largely of review of available documents, field visits, interviews,meetings and discussions with key value chain actors. Due to characteristics of study area (smallscale size and limited number of actors available, lack of available official data and statistics,geography of the area, etc.) the consultants have opted for a rapid value chain assessment approachbuilding on empirical and descriptive analysis.

The study is composed in five main sections. The first section presents the overall methodology andconcepts used in the study. The second section presents the relevance of tourism sector in theAlbanian economy, an introduction to the mountain tourism in Albania and then it attempt to setsthe scene of tourism development in Puka area and its relevance for the local economicdevelopment. The third section goes into more depth in analysis the situation of the tourism valuechain development in Puka area, by breaking it down and reviewing the progress made in each of thevarious nodes. The fourth section searches more into the crosscutting aspects of the value chaindevelopment and proposes a list of potential interventions necessary to foster better structuring andstrengthening of the value chain and its impact to the local community. The fifth and final sectionsummarizes the key findings and recommendations for development interventions.

The main interventions proposed for the development of the value chain are focused on the sevenfollowing areas (see section 5 for a detailed list of recommendations according to short, medium andlong terms): Improve knowledge and awareness of participating value chain actors about tourism resources

and tourist attractions and their understanding and knowledge on how to turn these resourcesand attractions into tourism opportunities.

Improve tourist information, promotion and marketing of tourism products and destination inPuka area, including design and implement of simple, but comprehensive message, brand andmarketing campaigns, building especially on online platforms.

Improve product Development, product quality and development of a diversified portfolio ofdifferent tourism products to increase the appeal and improve the marketability of a destinationto a wider range of clientele.

Improve human resources, build skills and professionalism among value chain actors to enableprovision of higher quality services and product management; as well as improving the skills andcapacity of local government staff responsible for tourism sector support and development.

Improve governance and coordination, Prepare a “mid-term tourism development action plan”


for the two municipalities and establish destination management structure, composed of publicand private sector actors, to take a wider look at the region and enhance coordination andcooperation of all the stakeholders.

Improve infrastructure and services to make Puka more attractive not only to tourists but also toinvestors in tourism sector in the area.

Facilitate linkages and Interconnections with other actors, including: establishment of linkageswith local, national and international tour operators/adventure organizers; establishment ofsouvenir shops to increase the product offering to tourists; support farmers and small-scaleprocessors to comply with food safety regulations and upgrade the processing, packaging andmarketing capabilities of producers of high-quality value added products.


1. Introduction

1.1. Background – AgroPuka Association

AgroPuka is a producers’ association founded in August 2001 as a non-profit organization. It hasmore than 300 members including producers, farmers, advisors, and other interested people.AgroPuka’s mission is to contribute to the integrated rural development of Puka rural areas throughencouraging and promoting rural economic development and community development actions andinitiatives to improve the livelihoods of AgroPuka members and communities living in Puka ruralareas. To fulfill its mission, AgroPuka focuses on two main directions: (i) agriculture production,marketing and cooperation models including market information and analysis, sustainableagricultural production, market access and sales, environmentally friendly farming, protection ofcultural environment, etc.; and (ii) promotion of local democracy and social inclusion including equalopportunities for women and men, youth support and development, local governance andcooperation, empowerment of civil society, etc. Since 2001, AgroPuka has implemented severalprojects and provided a significant support to development of the area through a very wide range ofinterventions. Starting from November 2011, AgroPuka is implemented a We-Effect (former SCC)funded project “To Contribute to the Sustainable Improvement of the Livelihood of People in PukaRural Areas”, which is now in its second phase (2014-2016). AgroPuka has identified tourism as oneof the potential sectors for the development of Puka and thus has carried out this study in order tobetter map out the current situation and the potential interventions in support to development oftourism activities in the territory.

1.2. Purpose and Methodology of the Study

The objective of the study is to identify and map the present status of the tourism value chain in thisregion including opportunities, gaps and needs in order to prioritize and select follow-oninterventions with highest potential to impact community development and pro-poor growth in theregion. The study identifies and recommends main interventions required to foster development ofthe tourism sector within territory. This Value Chain Analysis covers the entire Puka territory,including Puka and Fushe Arres municipalities. The study consisted largely of review of availabledocuments, field data collection, field visits, interviews, meetings and discussions with key valuechain actors.

Based on the characteristics of study area (small scale size and limited number and limited numberof actors available, lack of available official data and statistics, geography of the area, etc.) theconsultants have opted for an empirical and descriptive research approach for data collection andanalysis rather than a more statistically based one. As such, while the report tries to cover the widespectrum of value chain development issues, the numbers given in this report have to be taken withcaution, and only as being indicative of the respective issue in consideration.


Also, as it has been widely proven in other countries, Government bodies influence a value chain, butcannot reshape a product or market by decree. Accordingly, the study has put a stronger focus onidentifying market-based interventions that engage with the private sector and enable the market towork more effectively and produce stronger positive impact in the community and the pro-poorgrowth in the area. In addition, the review and analysis of the information collected has also beenbased on a set of well defined and practical definitions and concepts allowing to more clearly identifyinteractions among actors as well the potential actions need to be undertaken for improvement ofthe situation.

2. Tourism in the Albanian EconomyAlbania has a considerable potential for tourism development. Its vast number of tourism assetsoffer a range of different experiences to visitors - from 470 km of Mediterranean coast with excellentbeaches to mountain areas and lakes as well as a rich and varied cultural heritage and remarkablehistory. The most visited areas of the country include the capital Tirana, mostly as a gateway toAlbania and for business purposes; the central and southern coast; the archaeological sites of Butrintand Apollonia; and the historical towns of Berat and Gjirokastra. In the southeast, Korça region isreputed for it culture and history as well as it lakes (Ohrid and Prespa), historic villages andmountains. The north part of the country offers wild mountainous landscapes and excellent eco andadventure tourism opportunities. In the recent years Albania been visited by an increasing number oftourists from Western and Eastern European countries.

In the recent years, several international tourism newspapers and media (i.e. Lonely Planet, The NewYork Times, etc.) have mentioned Albania as one of the top priority destinations to be visited.However, most of the foreign tourists visiting Albania still remain ethnic Albanians from itsneighboring countries such as Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Italy, and Greece, and from thelarger Albanian Diaspora. Foreign tourists mostly come from Central and Eastern Europe, particularlyfrom Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Tourists also come from Western Europeancountries such as Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, France, UK, Scandinavia, and others including theUnited States, Turkey and countries in Asia.

The total contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP (including wider effects from investment, thesupply chain and induced income impacts) was ALL 306.2 billion in 2015 (21.1% of GDP, of which 6%in direct contribution) and is expected to grow by 5.4% to ALL 322.7 billion (21.5% of GDP) in 2016. Itis forecast to rise by 5.3% per annum to ALL 540.3 billion by 2026 (27.2% of GDP, with the directcontribution expected to grow at 7.9% of GDP). The total contribution of Travel & Tourism toemployment (including wider effects from investment, the supply chain and induced incomeimpacts) was 180,000 jobs in 2015 (19.3% of total employment) of which 51,000 jobs directly (5.5%of total employment). This is forecasted to rise by 3.1% in 2016 to 185,500 jobs (19.7% of totalemployment). By 2026, Travel & Tourism is forecast to support 265,000 jobs (25.4% of totalemployment), an increase of 3.6% per annum over the period. Money spent by foreign visitors toAlbania (or visitor exports) in 2015 amounted to about ALL 204.2 billion. In 2016, this is expected togrow by 5.7%, and the country is expected to attract 3,809,000 international tourist arrivals. By 2026,


international tourist arrivals are forecast to total 5,789,000, generating expenditure of ALL 369.2billion, an increase of 5.5% per annum. (WTTC, 2016) 1

These numbers primarily reflect the considerable economic activity generated by tourism businessessuch as hotels, travel agencies, airlines and other passenger transportation services and Tourism’simportant contribution to the Albanian economy. The economic benefits of tourism are reflected inbusinesses’ balance of payment, higher employment, rising incomes and the rise of newentrepreneurial activities in Albania. The most noticeable economic argument in favor of tourism isits multiplier effect. In this way, tourism can generate revenues and it also acts as a driver for generaleconomic development, supporting a variety of local and national businesses that act as suppliers orservice providers to restaurants, hotels, transportation and touristic guides all over the country.

As a service-oriented industry, tourism offers a wide range of different professional opportunities,ranging from low to high-skilled professions, which are particularly interesting for women and youngpeople. Women and youth especially make up a large portion of the formal tourism workforce. Thismakes sectors like tourism (especially rural and agro/eco-tourism) very important for theiremployment, where almost half the poor people in Albania are under 21 years of age and wheremore than half of Albania’s population lives in rural areas with 57% of them being women. Also, ruraland larger families tend to be poorer and around 50% of families with seven or more members livebelow the poverty line.2

The government has recently put a stronger focus toward increasing tourism in mountain and ruralareas. The strategy for improving the country’s tourism industry involves now also rural villagesserving as the main attractions for tourists. With over 1,300 villages located throughout themountainous countryside, Albania can succeed as a tourism destination by highlighting these smallvillages and communities. The strategy encourages and supports the, “creation of traditional hostingstructures in rural areas, especially in remote mountainous areas and orienting investment towardsthe improvement of infrastructure in those areas”. (MUTD, 2014) 3

The North Albanian Alps, an extension of the Dinaric mountain system, cover the northern part ofthe country. This part of Albania, with elevations approaching 2,700 meters - the most rugged part ofthe country, is known for its alpine mountainous landscape, conservative highlands, historic regions,large hydroelectric reservoirs, traditional inns and camping areas, and where the southern mostglaciers of Europe are located. It is heavily forested and sparsely populated, and most people theremake a living at forestry or livestock rearing. In contrast to the Alps, the central and southernmountain region, extending north to south from the Drin River to the central Devoll and lower Osumrivers, is more densely populated and has a generally less rugged terrain. In the region's easternmostportion, the imposing gypsum block of Albania's highest peak, Mount Korab , rises to 2,753 meters.The region has substantial deposits of such minerals as chromium, iron-nickel, and copper. Theprincipal economic pursuits are forestry, livestock raising, mining, and agriculture. South of thecentral mountain region is a series of northwest–southeast-trending mountain ranges, with

1 WTTC, Travel & Tourism: Economic Impact 2016, Albania, www.wttc.org 2 Rural Poverty Portal; Rural poverty in Albania;

http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/home/tags/albania3 Ministry of Urban and Tourism Development: Draft Strategy of Tourism Development 2014-2020


elevations of up to about 2,500 meters. Composed of limestone rock, the ranges are separated bywide valleys. Unlike the Alps and the central region, which are covered with dense forests, themountains of the southern region are either bare or have a thin covering of Mediterranean shrubs,oaks, and Mediterranean pines.

Due to its diverse climate and pristine landscapes, Albania has a great variety of plants and is hometo a wide range of birds and wild animals like wolves, foxes, bears, deer, goats, boar, cats etc. TheAlbanian forests are also home to a number of rare birds and animals that have either disappearedor are disappearing in the region. Albania also has a rich flora with over 3,221 types of plants. Amongthem, 489 are specific to the Balkan Peninsula and 40 are located only in Albania. Oak forests aretypical and comprise 20 percent of the forested area of the country. In other areas visitors can findMediterranean shrubs up to 800m above sea level and eucalyptus, sea figs and laurels.

3. Tourism Value Chain in Puka Area

2.1. Tourism in Puka Area

The Puka area primarily cover the municipalities of Puke and Fushe-Arrez, with an area of about1045.95 km2, with 28,487 inhabitants or a density of 27,24 inhabitants/km2 (versus about 59.000inhabitants in early 90’s) and organized into 76 villages and 2 small towns (Puke Municipality having505,53 km2 and 16,836 inhabitants and Fushe-Arrez having 540.42 km2 and 11,651 inhabitants). Pukaarea lies at the central part of the Northern Albania, on the right side of Shkodra. In the north andthe northeast Puka is surrounded by Has district and Tropoja, in the south, with Mirdita district, inthe southwest with the district of Lezha and in the west with Shkodra. Puka has a sub-continentalclimate, with relatively cold winters (lowest -3 to -10 °C during late December to January), heavyprecipitation (about 2020 mm/ year), with snowy some of its high mountains lasting till about April,and short fresh summer (usually between 20-22 °C and the higher reaching sometime up to about +39 °C).

Puke area presents a rather rough and variety of reliefs with deep valleys and high mountains such asMount Krrabe up to 1680 meters above the sea level and Mount Munella up to 1991 meters abovethe sea level. The mountains are rich in forests, green meadows, greenswards, percolated fromnumerous streams and rivers, with crystal waters, fed by the snow, which lives until the early spring.Forest vegetation covers about 80% of the Puka area making it one of the most followed in Albania.Forestry has been and remains a symbol for Puka. The forest vegetation is rich and diverse, withabout 160 species of trees grown, with the most widespread being the Mediterranean scrubs, oak,beech, black pine, white spruce, hornbeam, etc. Also, in the forests of Puka has a rich fauna includingwolf, grey and red foxes, rabbit, badger, wild boar, chamois, wild cat, brown bear, wild boar, stonemarten, Pine marten, Balkan lynx, brown hare, and birds such as quail, wild pigeon, grouse, etc.


Despite the available natural resources mentioned above, the area is among the poorest in Albania,with more than 2/3 of the population living in poverty and more than 45% rely on governmentassistance. This is due to many factors—lack of infrastructure, remoteness and isolation, small farmsize, poor soils, limited employment opportunities, etc. Difficult access to the markets for the small,dispersed and remote farms and their lack of know-how about quality and market-orientedproduction on one hand, and inefficient market organization on the other hand, are the mainreasons for the actual weak income generating capacities of agriculture. The main economicresources, except agriculture and livestock, which are providing the income base of almost two thirdof the population in the rural areas, are found in public services, transport, trade, construction, forestand wood processing. Unemployment in the area is estimated to be above 20%, especially amongwomen and youth, while under-employment is above 50%. This high level of poverty, with limitedeconomic and employment opportunities has caused massive emigration to urban areas in Albaniaand beyond. This leaves behind an aging population and empty villages. Compounding the situation,the lack of an enabling business environment makes it difficult for area migrants returning fromEurope to develop business opportunities back in Albania.

While further agricultural development remains challenging due to both structural and agro-ecological conditions, the potential is there to better connect the natural and cultural heritage into“rural/mountain tourism”, especially “agro/eco-tourism”. Adding tourism services by organizing theactivities, sites, and attractions of the area into “experiences”, and increasing the size of the marketfor locally produced food and natural products would bring new opportunities for job creation andincome generation.

Figure 1. Schema of tourism value chain nodes and actors

Informa on &organiza on

of travel

Transport &infrastructure

Accommodaon and food

Ac vi es andleisure Shopping

Online &individuals

Travel agents

Tour operators

Airlines

Cars & rentalservices

Client transportservices

Hotels &guesthouses

Inns, lodges,camping places

Restaurants &bars, etc.

Excursions &event operators

Local guides

Retail

Local farmers

Ar sans centers

Services

Safety (police)

Health centers

Financial services

Natural assets in tourist des na ons(i.e. flora, fauna, environment, historical sires, iden ty groups, adventure, sports, etc.)

Self-guidedtours, trails, etc.

Source: Adapted from Spescha & Reutimann (2013)

The above schema presents the wide variety of activities and actors, which interact with each otherwithin the value chain to create an enjoyable experience for tourists and generate income andemployment for the local communities and businesses.

While such activities are growing in the far north of Albania (i.e. Theth, Vermosh and Valbona), theyare currently limited in the Puka territory. Puka areas includes also many natural monuments such as


Migjeni acacia, pine forests in Dardha, Holy Stone, chestnuts forests of Kokëdode, Sofra Leka,waterfall of Kryezi, Kabash’s Acacia, Leka’s Oak, Micoi castle, Fairy source, Kaurri cave and variousother caves, etc. AgroPuka and the farmers’ and women’s groups it has established have developedprocessing centers and a brand that is recognized for high-quality, packaged local food products thatare sold all over Albania. Raising the profile of these products with improved packaging andmarketing in Tirana and other tourist destinations will reinforce the brand of natural quality from thePuka territory.

3.1. Tourist Demand and Offer

Finding tourist arrivals statistics and measuring the tourist demand is almost a mission impossible,not only in Puka but also in Albania in general. Despite some statistics linked with the number ofinternational visitors in Albania, collected through customs offices, Albania still remains unable toaccurately measure the flux of tourists. Puka has even larger challenges in this matter, due to the lackof appropriate structures and systems in place, both at local government level as well at theaccommodation sites. In addition, the high level of informality makes the collection of such dataeven harder, especially for areas like Puka. Under this situation, we may only refer to anecdotalfigures collected through the interviews with various actors involved in the value chain.

According to key actors’ interviews, it is estimated that about 5,700 visitors (about 2,700international visitors and about 3,000 Albanian visitors) have visited Puka in 2015, with both nationaland international arrivals in Puka area appearing to be on an upward trajectory in 2016. The majorityof these tourists seem to fit in the three following segments: (i) visiting friends and relatives (mostlypersons with Puka origin who come to visit their relatives in the area, staying usually between 1-3nights); (ii) relaxation (families and groups of friends, visiting the area usually within one day ormaximum up to 2 days) and; (iii) nature lovers, adventure and sports enthusiasts, including most ofthe international visitors and some of the sports and adventure Albanian visitors, most of whichcoming in organized groups and with clearly pre-arranged schedules of activities (i.e biking andmotor-biking, rallying, environmental study tours, etc.).

Although anecdotal, these figures are important because, when compared with the about 350 hotelbeds available (implying about 127 thousand potential bed nights available per year), they suggest abroad-brush estimate of aggregate occupancy levels of maximum 6-8% only. This aggregate figurehowever conceals a highly seasonal pattern with very low occupancy figures during the winter andalmost full occupancy in the summer season.

The majority of current tourism activities in Puka area is geographically concentrated mainly aroundtwo towns, with the three main hotels located in Puka and Fushe-Arrez towns and Dardha Vilage andvery few guesthouses located in axes Puka, Fushe-Arrez, Qafe Malie Kryezi, Dardhe, Iballe andMunelle. Seasonality is an important feature of Puka tourism and central to explaining the hithertolow aggregate occupancy figures. The “summer” destinations focus activity into a peak seasonusually from May to September and suffer a long “winter hole” in tourist demand usually going fromNovember to March. This seasonal pattern does impact on the viability of fixed assets (like hotels


and guesthouses) as well as affects those whose livelihoods depend on tourism revenues,particularly the poorest participants.

3.2. Information on Destinations

The first step of any tourist activity is deciding where to go. It involves searching, receiving andreviewing information on various alternatives and then choosing the destination. While variousnational regional promotional media campaigns are important to promote the opportunities in anarea, they usually only ignite the appetite to search for information on the destination through oneor more of the above channels. The next step is searching for more detailed information on thedesired destination through various channels available. There three main channels where touristsreceive this information: (i) contacts with friends and family who had previous experiences; (ii)contacts with tourism agencies, tour operators or individual travel arrangements, and; (iii) searchingon various online platforms.

The most important information channel remains the “friends and family”, including the personalcontacts or “word of mouth”. Especially domestic tourists, often use these informal channels andpersonal recommendations to select a hotel or restaurant. When searching for Puka as tourismdestination it become evident the huge lack of information at all other channels. Only rare tourismagencies mention and/or offer Puka as a destination, and even those that do it, they mostlymentioning it as a “pass-through” trip. Also, Puke area has received very little attention in all but fewof the local brochures and guides. When it was mentioned, the area was generally noted on a map oras a “pass-through” point for tours. Only few publications do offer a very brief history of the regionand city.

Even though the internet usage has rather widely spread in Albania, it is still difficult to fully andadequately research destinations in Puka online, and almost impossible to compare prices andarrange transportation and other tourism activities via internet. The online presence of hotels andguesthouse is very limited and of very poor quality and not duly updated. Most of the value chainactors have better presence and provide better information through social media than through theirown website. However, usually this kind of promotion fails to present an organized product andtargets mostly to national tourists, rather than international one who have a higher spendingpotential.

3.3. Transport and Infrastructure

The majority of tourist (about 80%) travel to Puka with their own means, including personal andshared cars, bikes or motorbikes, with the rest having the transport arranged by tour operators andvery few of them using the public transport, taxies or rent-a-car services. The main point of accessremains Vau i Dejes - Puka road (for almost two third of visitors) followed by the Fierze - Puke road(see schema below, where arrows show the main tourist access to the area).

Figure 2. Main tourist access points


Road infrastructure has improved a lot in the last years, including the reconstruction of the road fromKryezi to Iballa opening new opportunities for tourist tours in the area. However, interviews and fieldvisits revealed, some important roads (i.e, Reps – Gjegjan – Fushe-Arrez road) and especially thoselinking the more remote villages, are still suffering from poor quality. Besides road quality, thetourism activities continue to suffer also the frequent interruption of electricity, problematic watersupply, public areas lighting, poor tourist signage at destinations, as well as poor waste management.Although tourists do not directly pay for these facilities, lack thereof or poor quality infrastructurecan determine whether or not tourists will prolong or shorten his/her time in the area or consider areturn visit.

3.4. Accommodation and Food

Puka is still a small and yet to be well-established destination, with a total of less than 350 beds inthe three hotels and ten guesthouses. As well as being geographically dispersed, tourist activity isfocused mainly on a small number of larger hotels. Based on our interviews, almost 90% of thetourist accommodation available in the area is located in the three hotels of Puka, Fushe-Arrez andDardhe) and in one of the guesthouses in Puka, – with well two third the area’s bed stock in thefacilities located in Puka town. Most of the remaining beds can be found in nine other guesthousesranging in size from 6 to 9 beds. Although each hotel/guesthouse individually seems to be usedunder capacity, for most of as most of them are very far from each other, it makes it very difficult toaccommodate large groups of more than 10 tourists visiting the area and seeking overnightaccommodation, especially in the areas outside Puka and Fushe-Arrez towns.

Figure 3. Geographical distribution of tourists’ accommodation facilities


Main Hotels

Guesthouses

Main roads

Secondary roads

Bypassing roads

While the three hotels and few of the guesthouses have a decent quality, the rest of the room stockis of variable, and modest, quality. At present, there is no national classification system, so the touroperators run their own quality assessment. There is, therefore, no guarantee that the qualitystandards of Puka accommodation facilities would match those in other destinations. In the recentyears, there have been some good initiatives and private investments in product development, inupgrading existing hotels and establishment of new guesthouses. Most of the restaurants and otherfood services in Puka usually provide traditional and generally healthy food. Improvements are stillrequired especially as regards variety of products and quality of service and not only in villages.However, some of the interviewees claimed that, due to low occupancy levels and low room ratesthe returns from accommodation (especially in the areas distant from Puka and Fushe-Arrez) arelimited and insufficient to maintain the bed stock – let alone improve the quality and expand theaccommodation stock. Also, the high degree of spatial dispersion and the limited synergy among thevalue chain actors remain important limiting factors and has implications for the geographical spreadof community involvement and pro-poor impact of tourism

The interviews revealed a high difference in room rates, with hotels and few higher qualityguesthouse being from €15-25 per room per night (including breakfast) and more remoteguesthouse pricing at from €5 -15 per room per night. Whilst the rates at which tour operators arecontracting rooms may are slightly lower than the ones paid by the small percentage of independentvisitors, the figures should be seen in context. First, the review of the other Northern touristic areas(Theth, Valbona and Vermosh) reveals very similar rates of €5 and €10 when the started theirtourism activities and at similar accommodation qualities, and then they increased later to reach €15to €25 once tourism picked up and they improved the quality of the accommodation facilities.

Based on our interviews and rough estimations the average revenues for hotels and higher qualityguesthouses around Puka and Fushe-Arrez towns seems to vary between €500 and €750 per bed peryear (excluding the revenues from food during lunch and dinner), while in other smaller, more


remote and lower quality guesthouses it is much lower varying from €200 to 350 per bed per year(or a turnover of about €1200 – 2100 for a guesthouse with 6 beds available). This implies grossmargins of about 60% for the accommodation (including breakfast) providing for about 3.5 to 6months equivalent of one full time employment in a guesthouse with 6 beds. These figures will behigher if we include here the margins generated from sales of food during the day (lunch anddinner).

The lack of access to capital – clearly illustrated by wealthier individuals owning hotels, guesthousesand restaurants – is obviously a constraint to development for the bulk of the population with fewfinancial assets. This is in marked contrast with the evidence from other Northern tourism sites(Theth, Vermosh and Valbona), where the majority of guesthouses are established from averagecommunity members who have responded to investment incentives, with many of them having alsobeen financially and technically supported by various development projects.

3.5. Activities and Leisure

Tourists’ activities and leisure include a wide range of area’s natural and man-made features that areof interest to tourists, which constitute also the basic reasons why they come. Such features includeunique natural and historic sites, museums, festivals, sporting and cultural events, business events(i.e. conferences, workshops, study tours, etc.), participation in outdoor activities, etc.

Thanks to its the impressive natural environment and a variety of attractions, Puka offersopportunities for very different types of tourism including natural tours, hiking, biking and manyother activities in the frame of rural and mountain tourism, sports and adventure tourism, naturetourism, etc. Throughout the area, there are historical sites, forest trails, botanical treasures,unexplored caves, museums, schools and churches that need to be “on the map” for those passingthrough. But there is little information available, either online or in print, in English or otherlanguages, on other sites and amenities for tourists that are in close proximity to those better-knownattractions.

Although the existing touristic offers in Puka (packages or itineraries) remain still very limited, somegood example have emerged and become reasonably sound in recent years, showing proof if interestand traction in the area. For example, we may mention here the mountain roads from Pukë toKoman or from Iballe to Fushë - Arrëz attracting cyclists from the Balkans and beyond, therallying/biking routs from Fushe-Arrez – Kryezi – Iballe - Fierze and from Puke – Kabash – mountKrrabe, as well as the cruising on Lake Koman which is a must-do adventure for visitors to theShkoder area. An indicative list of natural monuments that could be visited in Puka area is presentedin Annex 2 hereafter attached.

In addition to cultural and natural site visiting, several local and regional activities have beenintroduced in Puka which have the contribute to increased tourist attraction, such as: Puka CulturalDay (9 June), Cultural Heritage Day (10 September), Sofra Pukjane (1 st Sunday of November),International Children’s festival (3rd Sunday of May), Saint Paul Day (28 June). Additional similar eventare being ideated and expected to be introduced and/or transformed into touristic events in the


future (i.e. emigrants’ day, etc.).

Despite improvement in the recent years, the tourist offer in Puka does not fulfill the potentials ofthe area and most importantly the products or packages area still rather underdeveloped both inquality and number. While the tourist demand in Puka has started to grow in the lasts years, itremains lower that it should be in order to push for further development and diversification of theoffer, including improvement of itineraries, creation of complementary services, organization ofmore leisure activities, improvements in local products, etc. Other reasons include lack of awarenessand cooperation among local private actors as well as limited capacities of local institutions to takethe leading role in the development of the sector.

Tourist guides are a rather recent addition to the local tourism sector. Until recently tourist guidingwas not considered a formal profession in Puka, so the existing guides often practice this professionwithout any formal training or recognized certification. The ministry of Social Welfare and Youth hasrecently started trainings, with the first group of 20 local tourist guides being certified in earlysummer and another 20 having started their training right after. However, due to various reasonsonly few of them (less than 10) do active in the market so far. Improvement of this function isparticularly important as tourist guides have the power to greatly impact the satisfaction andperceptions of tourists on the quality of the tourism products in the area. Therefore, it greatly affectsthe number of tourists likely to return or recommend a specific tour or destination.

3.6. Tourist Shopping

As mentioned before tourism sector is interconnected with various other sectors, among which verystrongly with handcrafts and agri-food businesses. Both these sectors bring a strong contribution tocreating a better perception of tourists about the area and their desire to extend the time, returnand/or recommend the destination to other. While some positive initiatives have started to emergeduring the recent year, the overall situation of locally products handcrafts and food products (both innumbers and quality) available to tourists is still underdeveloped.

The number of products offering handcrafts products to tourists is limited and such products areaccessible to tourists in form of souvenirs is almost only inside Puka and Fush-Arrez towns. Foodproducts going to tourism sector seem to be very limited. Besides products bought from farmers byhotels, guesthouses and restaurants and then offer as prepared food to tourists, the quantities oflocal products offered directly to tourists seems very limited.

The example of local products supported and developed by AgroPuka’s commercial unit are a goodexample of how such products could become a strong tool and vehicle to promote the local territorywith all its resources. Several persons interviewed in Tirana that had visited Puka, when asked whatare the two first things that come to your mind about visiting Puka, mentioned “beautiful nature”and “AgroPuka products” (i.e dried fruits, honey, jams, etc.). Both agriculture and small-scale farmbased processing have much larger potential in terms of types of products that could be madeavailable to tourists, such as fruits, dried products, jams, compotes, goat cheese, etc. Thedevelopment of souvenirs and other products for the tourism market would help not only improve


the perception of tourism products and packages but it also contributes to the local economicdevelopment through generation of additional revenue from local families.

3.7. Tourist Services

While current tourist demand is mostly from “vising family and relatives” and “adventure/sportstourists”, who feel more confortable in mountain areas (either due to personal knowledge andlinkages with the area, or due to being adventurous type), attraction of a wider range of touristgroups would require visible improvement in the quality of services. Among such services, veryimportant ones are those linked with personal safety and health services. While personal safety hassignificantly improved in the recent years in all Puka area, including remote villages, very little is doneto promote the safety and improve the perception of the risk adverse tourists. The health safetysituation is even more concerning. Healthcare center in most of the villages are missing and eventwhere they exist, except probably the hospital in Puka town, they do not have the equipment andcapacities to provide the minimum health care services to tourists. The poor quality of healthservices and unreliability of health safety, significantly affects the touristic offer in Albania in generalbut even more importantly of mountain touristic offer. This is also one of the main reasons why manyAlbanian domestic tourists, such as families with small children, choose other safer destinations (i.e.abroad) or travel to rural and mountain areas maximum for one single day.

Also, as most of the “more than one day” tourists coming to Puka (excluding “visitors to relatives”and the “one-day round trip tourists”) are somehow adventure tourists, the safety (i.e. food safety,transport, tours, etc.) is an important element in choosing their destinations. The adventure tourismis expected to increase faster than other types in Puka, individual tourist guides or tour operatorsoffering these activities to tourists should take more safety precautions and make sure that theseprecautions are noticeable by the tourists.

The financial services for tourists in Puka remain largely underdeveloped, with all expense paymentsbeing done in cash. Online financial services including booking and reservation and on-site paymentsystems (wit credit/debit cards) for local expenses have not yet been introduced in Puka. Almost alltourists, not coming to the area through tour operators, do the booking either by directly contactingtheir preferred accommodation or through personal contacts. Although, almost everywhere in thearea, they may pay the accommodation in any of the most used currencies (especially in EUR andUSD), most tourists need to carry with them certain amounts of Albanian Lek also to pay for smallerexpenses while on the road. As all currency exchange services are located in the two towns, carryingsuch amount of cash while traveling contributes also towards increasing the feeling of personalinsecurity in the remote and mountain destinations.

StrengthsRichness of the area in natural environment and attraction sites;Easily accessible especially through the Shkodra – Vau i Dejes – Puke road and through the Tropoja – Fierze – Fushe-Arress road;Rather good quality of main roads: from Vau Dejes – Puka – Fushe-Arrez - Fierze; and the road Kryezi – Iballe in very good quality opening new tourism destinations.

WeaknessesLack of strategic vision, leadership, cooperation and coordination.Limited number and underdeveloped tourist products (itineraries, packages) Very limited information and promotion of Puka’s tourism resources and adventure activities.Poor quality of infrastructure (especially in rural areas) and poor quality of services

OpportunitiesIncreased number of adventure tourists interested in Albanian mountain areas;Few existing itineraries, although new, showing good traction with potential to be used for broader promotion of Puka as a mountain tourism destinationProximity to Shkodra and Lake Koman.Potential synergies to be raised with neighboring itineraries and tourism sites.

ThreatsTourists taking the Highway Rubik-Kukes and bypassing Puka area;Tourists traveling by the Ferry through Lake Koman and bypassing Puka areaHigh willingness of young generation to leave the area, reducing tourism workforce.High competition from neighboring areas i.e. Theth, Vermosh and Valbona


4. Strengthening the Value Chain and its Community Impacts

4.1. SWOT analysis

The figure presents a summary of major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats oftourism sector in Puka area, based on results field visits and interviews with value chainstakeholders. The following section review more in depth the major concerning elementsand proposes various interventions that could be taken to improve the situation.

Figure 4. Major results of the SWOT analysis of the tourism value chain


4.2. Local Knowledge and Awareness

The level of knowledge and awareness about tourism resources and how to turn them intoopportunities among participating value chain actors and especially among the broader communitygroups remains still limited. While a large list of tourism resources were mentioned by various valuechain actors interviewed, the level of their knowledge about both cultural and natural resourcesseems to be rather superficial.

There is very only very few documentation and almost no proper assessment of the tourismresources available in the area and the contribution of participating actors in value chain in suchdocumentation remains minimal. A good understanding of the various resources and their respectivecharacteristics is a very important precondition to the design and development of tourism products.

The main actions proposed for improvement of the situation include: (i) improvement ofidentification, documentation and assessment of available tourism resources; (ii) improvement theknowledge and awareness of tourism opportunities and resources in the Puka area, at both the localcommunity and potential visitors; (iii) involvement of representatives of local community groupsidentification and documentation of tourism resources; (iv) preparation of a thorough identificationand assessment of tourism resources that could be used to develop new tourism products; and, (v)preparation of specific renovation/rehabilitation and development plans for the main tourismpackages/routes, including all resources linked to the specific route/package.

4.3. Information, Promotion and Marketing

Puka area has an impressive natural environment and a variety of attractions, offering opportunitiesfor very different types of tourism activities. However, these resources are scattered all over the areaand there is little information available, either online or in print, in English or other languages, evenfor the sites and amenities for tourists that are in close proximity and better-known attractions.Informal channels, personal contacts or “word of mouth” are very important in Puka area, especiallydomestic tourists, also due to the high informality in the sector. Information about the tourismbusinesses is generally missing online and the online visibility of existing destinations is still veryweak. More of value chain actors rely almost only in the social media presence, though this kind ofpromotion fails to present an organized product and target different mostly Albanian speakingtourists.

The main actions proposed for improvement of the situation include: (i) improvement of awarenessof value chain actors on the value of internet information, promotion and marketing services; (ii)launching of a website showing tourism opportunities, resources and activities, with the capacity tomake contact directly with service providers; (iii) designing and implementing simple, butcomprehensive message, brand and marketing campaigns to raise public awareness about tourismproducts and destinations; (iv) improvement of the presence of Puka tourism products and packagesin the various forms of media; (v) improvement of skills of local tourist guides and their deeperknowledge about the various elements of tourism products and packages, including history, andcultural/ natural sites; and, (vi) improvement foreign language skills throughout the value chain,


especially among the staff of the major tourist services providers in the area.

4.4. Product Development

Puka’s touristic offer in general, and tourism products (packages, itineraries, activities) in particularare considered as underdeveloped, both in terms quality, organization and management as well aslimited number of attractions the include. In addition, existing touristic packages, itineraries oractivities often need much improvement to be considered as authentic/unique or as based ontradition and specific values. Developing a diversified portfolio of different tourism products canincrease the appeal and improve the marketability of a destination to a range of clientele as well as apotential increase in volume of numbers. A low quality of tourism products may lead to bad publicity,which can have lasting damaging effects on a destination’s reputation. Accordingly, the quality oftourism products needs to be significantly improved in order to sustain the appeal of Puka as atourist destination. Improving the quality of goods and services can also increase spending on thesegoods and services increasing tourism impact in development of local economy.

The main actions proposed for improvement of the situation include: (i) improvement of the level ofunderstanding and knowledge of value chain actors tourism product cycle and roles andresponsibilities of different stakeholders in making sure this product sells; (ii) increasing the level ofawareness of value chain actors on the need to cooperate for new better joint tourismproducts/packages; (iii) improvement of tourism product offering, including assessment of theimproving the quality of the existing products/packages and the design and development of newones; (iv) identification and development of festive events in the territory that could be used toattract visitors; and, (v) improvement of the quality of goods and services linked with tourismactivities.

4.5. Human Resource Development

Development of human resource at various levels of the value chain is considered as crucial fordevelopment of tourism in the area (tourism being a service oriented industry). Although many timesgood inter-personal skills and warmth of welcome are praised, there is much to be improved on theattitude and skills of the service staff working in the sector (chef skills, tourist guides skills, customerservice skills and managerial skills, etc.). In order to ensure a high quality of services, a wide range ofdifferent professions need to be offered in training as they are not currently meeting the standardsrequired by industry requirements and tourists expectations.

The main actions proposed for improvement of the situation include: (i) designing and implementingcapacity building programs for local government staff responsible for tourism sector support anddevelopment; (ii) establishment of public or private sector services for the tourism-sector; (iii)designing and delivering training programs for staff of tourism service providers in the provision ofhospitality and tourism services to build sustainable capacity.


4.6. Governance and Coordination The tourism sector in Puka is still at its infantile stage and suffers the lack of vision, leadership, andcoordination body which would take a wider look at the region, enhance a suitable environment forthe development of tourism, and foster cooperation among local actors to capitalize on the region’sassets. Destination management requires the coordination and integration of all of the elements ofthe destination mix in a particular geographic area based upon a defined tourism strategy and plan.The new tourism law and the new law on territorial planning, together with the tourism strategy2014-2020 (although still at draft stage since 2014), introduce new elements pushing for a moreimportant role of local government in tourism development, such as: better local and regionalorganization, development planning, responsibilities on implementation of the plans, vertical andhorizontal cooperation, public private partnership, standardization of tourism structures, etc.However, the two extended local government administrations (municipalities), created with therecent territorial administration reform, are still weak and lack the capacities to take on theseimportant functions. In addition, there seems to be still very little cooperation among tourismrelated businesses in the region.

The main actions proposed for improvement of the situation include: (i) establishment of adestination management structure, composed of public and private sector actors, to serve as amechanism for coordination and cooperation of all the stakeholders and actors in the tourism valuechain, and foster the collective conscience on the importance of tourism for the economic and socialdevelopment; and (ii) preparation of a joint “mid-term tourism development plan” of actions for thetwo municipalities (Puke and Fushe-Arrez) where tourism destinations development areinterconnected and interdependent.

4.7. Infrastructure and Services

Poor economic infrastructure and services, such as roads, electricity, basic health services, etc.,impedes tourist development and makes achieving and maintaining tourism standards more difficultand expensive. Puka tourism relies on a relatively limited menu of modest quality accommodationand a “summer-based” product. The tourism sector can be the kick-start to the development of aviable and evolving sector, which can also supply local markets, improving livelihoods. An essentialelement for the success of local procurement is the existence of adequate infrastructure. Theinfrastructure required includes transport, irrigation, storage facilities, access to seeds and markets,and adequate training for stakeholders. Enhancing the enabling environment, by improvinginfrastructure, accessibility, financial systems, can make an area more attractive to investors in thearea, especially from Puka native richer persons living in Tirana or abroad.

The main actions proposed for improvement of the situation include: (i) supporting establishment ofsmall guesthouses and camping sites and expanding the network of accommodation facilities; (ii)improvement of road infrastructure, especially in rural roads to facilitate tourists’ access todestinations; (iii) improvement of basic health care services in the rural areas and ensure visibility ofthese centers and services, in order to ensure tourists that they can receive at least basic health careservice if needed; and (iv) rehabilitation and increasing accessibility to unexploited cultural and


natural sites (historical sites, churches, mosques, waterfalls, caves, bridges, etc.).

4.8. Linkages and Interconnections

The most direct impact on the community in areas like Puka is through strengthening linkagesbetween agriculture and tourism, as food and beverages expenditure is by far the largest componentof expenditure by tourists – usually accounting for almost half of all out-of-pocket expenditure.

The main actions proposed for improvement of the situation include: (i) establishment of souvenirshops to increase the product offering to tourists including handicrafts; (ii) supporting farmers andsmall-scale processors to comply with food safety regulations and upgrade the processing andpackaging capabilities of producers of high-quality value added products to increase economicactivity across the area; and (iii) establishment of linkages with local, national and international touroperators/adventure organizers.


5. Conclusions and RecommendationsMountain tourism in Albania (including all the various forms, i.e. agro-, eco-, adventure tourism, etc.)can help maintain and develop small local communities. This type of tourism, with itsinterconnection with other sectors (such as food and agriculture, handicraft or transport) haspotential to provide increased income for rural villages, and can aid in the preservation of naturalattraction sites. Puka area, including the two municipalities (Puka and Fush-Arrez), has an impressivenatural environment and a variety of attractions, offering a wide range opportunities for tourismactivities, including natural tours, hiking, biking, etc. Also, throughout the area, there are historicalsites, forest trails, botanical treasures, unexplored caves, museums, schools and churches, etc.Although the existing touristic offers in Puka (packages or itineraries) remain still very limited, somegood example have emerged and become reasonably sound in recent years, showing proof if interestand traction and putting the area “on the map” of mountain and adventure tourism in Albania.

However, despite positive developments in the recent years, the tourism industry in Puka arearemains still underdeveloped and suffers from several major weaknesses: limited of knowledge andawareness of value chain actors about the richness of the local resources available; limitedinformation available and promotion of available attraction and tourism opportunities in the area;lack of vision, leadership, and coordination among local actors to capitalize on the region’s assetswhich are as-yet sorely under-developed; lack of well-defined “tourism products” such asitineraries/packages, activities and nature-based experiences that are, or can easily be improved tobe, interesting and convenient to visitors who usually bypass the area; lack of easily accessiblesources of information about the sites, services and activities available, both before and after arrivalin Albania, etc. These weaknesses are in addition to those that plague the country as a whole: poorinfrastructure, negligible investment, and a difficult business environment, especially for micro-,small and medium enterprises.

The mountain tourism in other neighboring area (Theth, Vermosh, Valbone, etc.) has beendeveloping faster in the recent year and Puka tourism stakeholders have a lot to learn from theseexamples. Although these areas are today more visible on the mountain tourism map and seem to besomewhat of stronger competitors, there is potential for synergies with them, which would bringmore benefits than competition to development of the tourism value chain in Puka area.

The list of main interventions recommended to the undertaken at short, medium and long term ateach of the main value chain nodes is presented below.

1. Local knowledge and awareness : Improve knowledge and awareness of participating value chain actors and especially among thebroader community groups about tourism resources and tourist attractions and their understandingand knowledge on how to turn these resources and attractions into tourism opportunities. Short-term:

o Improve identification, documentation and assessment of available tourism resources


and increase the knowledge and awareness of tourism opportunities and resources inthe Puka area, at both the local community and potential visitors.

o Involve representatives of local community groups (especially women and youth)identification and documentation of tourism resources (cultural and natural sites,activities, etc.), not only as a good way to improve their knowledge and awareness butalso to increase their participation in improvement of current tourism products anddevelopment of new products.

Medium-term: o Prepare a thorough identification and assessment of tourism resources that could be

used to develop new tourism products (routes/itineraries, packages, activities), such as:(i) walking nature trails; visiting museum-based displays of traditional uses of medicinaland aromatic plants and botanical display gardens; (ii) visiting sites of historical andcultural significance, archeological sites, old churches, village life and traditional foodsand crafts; (iii) adventuring, caving, hiking, cycling, and climbing; (iv) agro-tourismexperiential activities, cheese-making, village life and traditional foods and crafts; etc.

o Prepare specific renovation/rehabilitation and development plans for the main tourismpackages/routes, including all resources linked to the specific route/package identifyingalso roles and responsibilities, which will serve as guide for specific interventions at eachof the tourism packages/routes in the future.

2. Tourist information, promotion and marketing: Improve information available to tourists, promotion and marketing of tourism products anddestination in Puka area, including design and implement of simple, but comprehensive message,brand and marketing campaigns, especially using online platforms (which is the cheaper nowadays)but not only – being present in media and various selected printed materials (i.e. guides) is veryimportant too. Short-term:

o Improve awareness of value chain actors on the value of internet information, promotionand marketing services and their skills in continuously maintaining and customizing thepromotion and marketing information.

o Launch website showing tourism opportunities, resources and activities, with thecapacity to make contact directly with service providers.

o Design and implement simple, but comprehensive message, brand and marketingcampaigns to raise public awareness about tourism products and destinations, including:preparation and wide distribution of various promotional materials about “things to do”in Puka area; joining tourism marketing events at primarily local, national, and regionalevents, and; establishing contacts with travel writers, guidebooks, magazines, etc., topromote the Puka area as a good tourist destination.

Medium-term: o Improve the presence of Puka tourism products and packages in the various forms of

media, which will has help attract not only foreign but also many domestic tourists todestinations that are little known for them.

o Improve foreign language skills throughout the value chain, especially among the staff ofthe major tourist services providers in the area.


o Improve skills of local tourist guides and their deeper knowledge about the variouselements of tourism products and packages, including history, and cultural/ natural sites.

3. Product Development : Improve tourism product quality and develop a diversified portfolio of different tourism products toincrease the appeal and improve the marketability of a destination to a wider range of clientele aswell as a potential increase in volume of numbers. Short-term:

o Improve the level of understanding and knowledge of value chain actors tourism productcycle, the various stages a business should go through to develop a successful tourismproduct, and roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders in making sure thisproduct sells.

o Increase the level of awareness of value chain actors on the need to cooperate for newbetter joint tourism products/packages.

Medium-term: o Improve tourism product offering, including assessment of the quality of the existing

products and packages and make necessary improvements, design and development ofnew ones, improvement of orientation/guiding signs, etc.

o Identify and develop any festive events in the territory (based on culture/tradition andnature, etc.) that could be used to attract visitors.

o Improve the quality of goods and services linked with tourism activities: from goods inlocal crafts shops, to quality of staff in hotels and tourist guides, to agro-food products,which invariably add to the quality of the tourism product, as well as help localpopulations to develop skills and improve incomes.

4. Human resources : Improve skills and professionalism of value chain actors to enable provision of higher quality servicesand product management. Short-term: Deliver capacity building programs for local government staff responsible for tourism

sector support and development, on topics such as data gathering, assessment and prioritizationof local assets to enhance the experience of visitors to the region, as well as planning andimplementation of tourism development actions;

Medium-term: o Encourage the establishment of public or private sector services for the tourism-sector,

i.e. courses in English for the tourism sector worker; How to operate a guest-house, etc.,are offered by labor/vocational services offices or private courses/schools.

o Design and deliver training programs for staff of tourism service providers (including tourguides, guesthouse, restaurants, museums, hotels, etc.) in the provision of hospitalityand tourism services to build sustainable capacity.

5. Governance and coordination : Improve strategic planning, leadership, and coordination among actors as well as destinationmanagement and development functions within the value chain. Short-term: Establishment of a destination management structure, composed of public and


private sector actors (a Local Action Group type structure, building on Leader+ approach), totake a wider look at the region and enhance a suitable environment for the development oftourism, serve as a mechanism for coordination and cooperation of all the stakeholders andactors in the tourism value chain, and foster the collective conscience on the importance oftourism for the economic and social development.

Medium-term: Preparation of a joint “mid-term tourism development plan” of actions for thetwo municipalities (Puke and Fushe-Arrez) where tourism destinations development areinterconnected and interdependent.

6. Infrastructure and services : Improve tourism infrastructure and health care services, establish tourist information an contactpoints/centers, etc., making the Puka more attractive not only to tourists but also to investors intourism sector in the area. Medium-term: Support to establishment of small guesthouses and camping sites and expanding

the network of accommodation facilities, starting especially with the major existing destination. Long-term:

o Improve road infrastructure, especially in rural roads, to facilitate destination access fortourists traveling with non-4X4WD vehicles, open opportunities for access to destinationfor a longer period during the year (expanding tourism seasonality).

o Improve basic health care services in the rural areas and ensure visibility of these centersand services, in order to ensure tourists that they can receive at least basic health careservice if needed.

o Rehabilitation and increase accessibility to unexploited cultural and natural sites(historical sites, churches, mosques, waterfalls, caves, bridges, etc.).

7. Linkages and Interconnections: Facilitate and support establishment of stronger linkages and interconnection with other sectors,especially with agriculture which has the potential to bring the most direct impact on the communityin areas like Puka, as food and beverages expenditure is by far the largest component of expenditureby tourists – usually accounting for almost half of all out-of-pocket expenditure. Medium-term:

o Support establishment of souvenir shops to increase the product offering to touristsincluding handicrafts and a variety of food products apocopate for tourists, especially thedomestic tourists.

o Support farmers and small-scale processors to comply with food safety regulations andupgrade the processing and packaging capabilities (equipment and training) of producersof high-quality value added products (cultivated, wild-crafted, home-processed andhandcraft products) to increase economic activity across the area;

o Establish linkages with local, national and international tour operators/adventureorganizers.


Bibliography Ashley, C., & Mitchell, J, (2007). Assessing how tourism revenues reach the poor. Overseas

Development Institute Briefing Paper 21, June.

Kruja, D., Lufi, M., & Kruja, I. (2012). The Role of Tourism in Developing Countries. The Case of Albania. European Scientific Journal, 8(19).

Lonely Planet. (2016). Top 10 countries for 2011: Europe’s got the goods. Retrieved from: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel-tips-and-articles/76164

Ministry of Urban and Tourism Development. (2014). Draft Strategy of Tourism Development 2014-2020

Mitchell, J & Ashley, C (2007) Can tourism offer pro-poor pathways to prosperity? Examining evidence of the impact of tourism on poverty. ODI Briefing Paper 22, June.

Mitchell, J & Faal, J, (2006). The Gambian Tourist Value Chain and Prospects for Pro-Poor Tourism.Report submitted to the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Outdoor Albania. (2016). http://www.outdooralbania.com/

Overseas Development Institute. 2009.Value chain analysis and poverty reduction at scale. Evidence from tourism is shifting mindsets. Briefing Paper No.49. March.

Population and Housing Census in Albania. (2011). Institute of Statistics. Retrieved from: http://census.al/Resources/Data/Census2011/Instat_print%20.pdf

Puka Municipality and Communes ofRrape, Gjegjan and Luf-Qerret. 2008. Puka Area Tourism Action Plan.

Puka Municipality. 2008. Strategic Development Plan Of Puka Municipality – Short Version.

RisiAlbania. (2014) Albania Tourism-Sector Market System Analysis

RisiAlbania. 2014. Market System AnalysisTourism sector in Albania and business constraints to growth.

Rural Poverty Portal; Rural poverty in Albania. http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/home/tags/albania

Saskia, M. (2011). Community-based & Pro-Poor Tourism. International Trade Forum (2), 22.

Tourist Guide of Puka, Albania. http://www.slideshare.net/hoteleritourismalbania/tourist-guide-of-puka-albania

TravelMagazine. (2016). Puka General Info. http://albaniantravel.info/GeneralInfo5-Puka.htm

Wiegman, E., Merrill, L., Freed, M., Hickey, T. 2013. Community Based Tourism at Pellumbas Village, Albania. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA

WTTC, Travel & Tourism: Economic Impact 2016, Albania, www.wttc.org

http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/home/tags/albania

http://www.wttc.org/


Rapid Assessment of Tourism Value Chain

Development in Puka Area

ALBANIA

November 2016

Rapid Assessment of Tourism Value Chain …agro-puka.org/publications/Puka Tourism Value...

Documents

Transcript of Rapid Assessment of Tourism Value Chain …agro-puka.org/publications/Puka Tourism Value...