Ermal Telha, an economist invited to “A2 Business” by Aurora Sulçe, spoke about informality in the country’s tourism sector, where it has been observed that a significant number of tourists have entered our country in recent months, but according to official figures, only 10% of them have been accommodated.
According to Telha, it is unreasonable for so many people to come and just 10% of them to be housed, regardless of whether they are transit tourists. As a result, he advocated for the implementation of a monitoring mechanism for online platforms such as AIRBNB to prevent this situation, which not only harms the state budget but also raises rental prices for Albanians.
How do you explain the large disparity between the number of persons entering the nation and those who are housed?
“The vast majority of listings on these sites go unnoticed and uncontrolled by the appropriate authorities. Given that we live in the digital age, I don’t believe it is too difficult to monitor these features.
It defies sense that 600,000 people enter and only 60,000 are accommodated. It still doesn’t make sense to lower this number to one-tenth, whether they are transit tourists or people staying with acquaintances. This equates to 10%.
As a result, I believe that a monitoring mechanism is required, which I believe is doable.”