Albania expect a significant increase of travellers in 2016

Albania will definitely be the travel destination of choice for tourists all over the world in 2016.
The number of tourists visiting Albania is increased significantly during 2015. According to Albanian Institute of Statistics, (INSTAT) tourists from South Europe comes in first place. During the summer 2015 there were about 1 432 601 tourists from South Europe. In the second place there are tourists from West Europe, about 137 811 tourists, and in the third place are East and Central Europeans about 83 892 tourists. The statistics belongs to third quarter of the last year. The number of Americans visited Albania last year was 57 125 followed by Asian people 13610. Albania has been nominated as one of the best destinations to travel for 2016 from the best travel media and bloggers all over the world.
Albania is safe place, with plenty of places to explore and admire. It is appreciated for the beautiful beaches, wonderful historic and archaeological places, but also for very unique cities, like Berat and Gjirokastra protected by UNESCO. Albania is not involved in the immigrants drama, the improved infrastructure and friendly people make it an appealing destination for 2016. Talking to tourism actors, we are sure that 2016 will be a better year for tourism in Albania.

Japan: Lovely Berat, among Europe's 30 most beautiful cities

Japanese travel agents believe these to be the 30 most beautiful towns in Europe.. Among them, listed in second place is the city of Berat. Here what Japanese travel agencies think about Berat city in #Albania.

Berat, Albania
Mangalem, the city of Berat’s old town, sits on the banks of the river Osum and is a Unesco World Heritage Site. In medieval times it was a frontier town of the Byzantine Empire, to which its citadel testifies.
There are about 30 cities and villages in Europe which now are being promoted as a "must-visit" destination for Japanese tourists, after being picked as one of 30 recommended small destinations by 300 Japanese travel agents.
The agents were presented with the challenge to pick the 30 best by the Japanese Association of Travel Agents (JATA), which wants to promote travel to attractive little places in Europe.
JATA’s member companies - a mix of tourism offices for Europe, tour operators and airlines - first acted as judges by whittling down a list of towns and villages to 41, from 28 countries.
A selection committee then came up with a top 30 after looking at criteria that included assessing which places had low media exposure in Japan and no package tours available; wanting to ensure a wide variety of destinations from the whole of Europe and tourist attractions the travel companies thought would appeal to Japanese travellers.

Here's the list:

1. Kilkenny, Ireland
2. Berat, Albania
3. Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy
4. Procida, Italy
5. Conwy, Wales
6. Lech, Austria
7. Hindeloopen, Netherlands
8. Lefkara, Cyprus
9. Rovinj, Croatia
10. Soglio, Switzerland
11. Visby, Sweden
12. Setenil de las Bodegas, Spain
13. Piran, Slovenia
14. Vlkolinec, Slovakia
15. Marianske-Lazne, Czech Republic
16. Quedlinburg, Germany
17. Bernkastel-Kues, Germany
18. Golyazi, Turkey
19. Reine, Norway
20. Sopron, Hungary
21. Koprivshtitsa, Bulgaria
22. Porvoo, Finland
23. Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, France
24. Riquewihr, France
25. Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium
26. Zalipie, Poland
27. Monsanto, Portugal
28. Ohrid, Macedonia
29. Kotor, Montenegro
30. Gura Humorului, Romania

Read the full article here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/12129402/The-30-most-beautiful-towns-in-Europe.html#TheTelegrapf#Jata#30