Summer of discontent between Italy, Albania over tourism, unpaid bills, soothed by Meloni’s visit

Record numbers of Italian tourists in Albania this summer have led to tensions on both sides of the Adriatic, while an impromptu visit by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni smoothed the waters with talks of cooperation and nuclear power, and an Italian dine-and-dash bill being settled by her government.

Last week, an Italian family ordered a meal from a restaurant in a hotel in Berat. After finishing, they got up, walked outside and then ran away. The video went viral on social media and was raised by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama with Meloni when she visited the country some days later.

Staying in Vlora with her family, Meloni met with Rama, who explained the situation. The prime minister responded by instructing the Italian Ambassador to Albania to “go and pay the bill for these idiots”.

The embassy confirmed it paid the bill totalling €80 on behalf of the tourists.

“A few dishonest individuals cannot embarrass a nation of decent people,” Franceso Lollobrigida, the agriculture minister and Meloni’s brother-in-law, told Reuters.

In a second incident, a group of Italian tourists stole a pillow, sheets, and a towel from a hotel in Saranda in the country’s south. When confronted, they finally admitted the theft, returned the items, apologised and left.

2023 has seen a record number of Italians flock to Albania for their summer holidays, looking for a cheaper deal than they can get at home.

Rama noted on social media it was an “invasion” of “almost half a million” tourists and drew a tongue-in-cheek comparison to the Vlora ship that took some 20,000 Albanian refugees to Italy in August 1991 after the fall of communism.

But the mass exodus of Italians to Albania for a holiday has displeased some politicians in Rome.

Lollobrigda was quoted as saying before his visit, “We must explain that quality pays off. Therefore, when someone pays more, it means they get more. Puglia is an excellence … Evidently, there are countries on the Adriatic coast which aspire to have the same propensity to welcome tourists in the same way Puglia has. But what you find in Puglia cannot be found there.”

This resulted in Rama inviting Meloni to the country.

“She came [off the ferry] with a big bunch of Italians who seemed very proud of their special travel companion and were shouting it as she disembarked,” Rama told the Guardian. “What’s great about Giorgia is that she is authentic and very direct – what you see is what you get. Her first words, after I accompanied her to the place she stayed, were: ‘My, how beautiful this city is!’”

Rama said much of the interest in Albania is not just due to its beauty but lower costs than elsewhere in Europe.

“The lower prices here no doubt cast their spell, but I think it is more than just the prices,” said Rama. “Albania has finally got rid of the horrible stigma of the 90s that persecuted us for so many years. Albania is now the new tourist destination to be discovered in the Mediterranean.”

This year, Italy saw a 30% drop in domestic travel compared to 2022, while the number of foreign tourists increased. Albania, meanwhile, had five million tourists visit the country in the first seven months of the year – a historic high, with millions more expected by the end of the year.

In Tirana, however, Rama and Meloni discussed political issues in the region, the significant presence of Italian entrepreneurs, immigration, the war in Ukraine and Albania’s EU accession, Italian media reported.

Energy was also on the agenda, including the underwater gas pipeline between Albania and Italy and possibly constructing a nuclear power plant in Albania.

Albania currently relies on hydropower generated locally and fossil power imported from neighbouring countries but does not use gas for heating or any kind of energy generation. Nuclear power has been raised at several points during the country’s 32 years of democracy, but no solid plans have been made.

(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)