by Christos Zabounis

Those who have flown over the coast of Albania will have seen this. There are very beautiful beaches with clear blue waters. Twenty years ago, while sailing towards Croatia, it crossed our minds to dock at Agioi Saranda or Avlona. The majority of the group raised strong objections citing security reasons. By 2024, the situation has completely reversed. For the past few days, Vassilis A. has been looking for groups to go on vacation in the neighboring country. He saw a video on TikTok of a super-luxury hotel in Ksamil and an offer of 299 euros for five nights, which made a vivid impression on him. He is adventurous, he decided to discover this place that is so close to us, but at the same time so far away. What a coincidence! Ksamil is none other than Hexamilion in the province of Agioi Saranda, where we had located the golden beaches. Vassilis has a relative hesitation as to whether what is presented in the images has anything to do with reality. But when you have a family of five and it’s all inclusive for 60 euros a day, you can’t ignore the parameter. 500,000 Italian tourists, read in “Republica”, visited Albania in 2023. Among them is Georgia Meloni, invited by Prime Minister Edi Rama’s counterpart. It was a way of thanking him for hosting two reception centers for irregular migrants to be sent from Italy. Her vacation did not enthuse her country’s tourism industry, which suffers from punctuality, so she rushed to continue it in Bari. However, the hymns of the Italian press about their former protectorate under Mussolini did not cease. The snob “Vanity Fair” calls them “Maldives of the Adriatic”, while other publications focus on prices: 0.70 euros for coffee, 10-15 euros for meals, 20-30 for hotels. On social media, however, one can detect quite a few complaints about profiteering, bad service and lack of infrastructure.