Gina BORDEA (RAFAILA), ”A.I. Cuza” University of Iasi, Romania
Ferjolt OZUNI, ”A.I. Cuza” University of Iasi, Romania
As of 2013, Albania is experiencing a growth spurt and the tourism sector is one of the growing sectors, followed by agriculture and construction. Much investment has been made to support tourism growth, and in 2019, Albania hosted around 6.5 million foreign tourists - roughly double its population - while most of them visited Albania in the summer season. Romania is a country that since 2013 has been steadily increasing its tourist presence around the world by participating in many important Tourism Fairs, investing in its brand, and in 2019 it accommodated around 12.82 million foreign tourists - most of them also in the summer season.
As the pandemic situation grips the world, the tourism sector has suffered the most . In 2020, Albania was visited by only 2.6 million tourists, and most of them were "patriotic tourists" - Albanians in the diaspora. At the same time, Romania was visited by around 6.3 million tourists - 51% less than in 2019. Even if the trend of visits tends to be the same as in previous years (pre-pandemic years), in 2020 and 2021 it has been observed that tourists are no longer interested only in beaches, holidays or historical tours, but also in recreational tourism in nature. Statistically, in the last 2 years, Albania has seen an 18% increase in the number of nature exploration tourists compared to the pre-pandemic years. Based on these changes, in this research we will try to discover new trends of tourists in Romania and Albania, changes that have been forced by the pandemic situation and the need for people to explore the world and feel free again. Perceptions will be analysed, but also information provided by institutions on the reorientation of tourists' attention from luxury to nature exploration, from driving to hiking, from high-class restaurants to agrotourism (rural). Will the tourism sector change forever? Or is it only temporary? Will tourism policies in Romania and Albania make them more attractive?
Mots clés : travel pattern|tourist behavior| tourism sector, |agrotourism|pandemic tourism
A105447GB