THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE TOURISM SECTOR IN ALBANIA AND OPTIONS FOR A SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY

Abstract

Tourism is considered by all as one of the most important sectors of our economic system, with a direct and indirect impact of up to 20% of GDP. The study of World Travel and Tourism Council in 185 countries of the world finds out that tourism constitutes 10.4% of global GDP; 10% of employment, 6.5% of total global exports and has had a contribution of 3.9% of global growth in 2018.Tourism is also considered a re-balancing factor thanks to the growth that is able to put in motion different productive sectors as a result of the multiplier effect it has on income and employment. But nowadays, like many other sectors of the economy, it is considered the most affected one by COVID-19: with a decrease of 30% of global flows and a decrease of 60% in the Albanian economy.Given this situation, the objective of this paper will be studying the impact of COVID-19 on our economy and the economic policies that can be undertaken to launch this priority sector for the country's economy. The methodology used in this paper is a descriptive statistical analysis and qualitative data. It is expected that the tourism sector to be the most affected one and that economic policies related to tourism can connect this sector with agro-processing industry transforming it to a new dimension and creating regional brands.