Role of SMEs in the tourism industry. The case of Albania

Abstract

In today’s world, tourism is a key source of income in many areas. It is an engine of regional development and in 
coming years is expected to contribute actively to the diversification of economic structure and the employment 
challenge across the whole of Europe. Because the tourism sector in Europe is dominated by SMEs (European 
Commission 2006), inevitably each tourism destination represents an amalgam of the SMEs providing and 
selling tourism products and offering a wide range of tourism services. The Albanian economy too, especially the 
tourism sector is dominated by SMEs, which are considered as a major source of entrepreneurial skills, 
innovation and employment due to their strong economic multiplier effect.  
This paper presents a profile of Albanian SMEs in tourism industry and determine their unique characteristics. 
The study was conducted primarily through in-person interviews with various actors in SMEs development and 
the tourism sector in Albania. It was conducted in the most important Albanian cities, where are located the 
majority of SMEs. 
Types of organizations interviewed included the following: small-medium tourism business owners (tour 
operators and travel agencies, accommodations, restaurants and transportation), representatives of the public 
sector, chambers of commerce, private banks, micro-credit finance institutions, and private local and international 
business consulting companies of this field. 
The aim of this paper is to determine and analyze the business environment within which tourism companies 
operate. 
As far as possible, this study tried to focus on specific issues to SMEs in the tourism sector. One of the many 
conclusions reached during this study is that there is a need for more policies for fostering SMEs & 
entrepreneurship development in support of economic development in Albania. SMEs are well suited to tourism 
sector in Albania, but they also face a number of challenges and there are a number of weaknesses occurring in 
tourism SMEs that can constitute barriers to successful tourism development.