On Informality in Tourism

In its upcoming meeting (late September 2018), Albania Investment Council will discuss ‘Informality and Competitiveness in the Tourism Sector’. In this framework, the Secretariat is conducting an analysis to identify and highlight main business concerns and provide relevant recommendations to address issues related to informality in the sector. The focus of the Technical Note will be mainly on the main parts of the tourism chain, hotel accommodation and travel operators. A survey was launched in July 2018 by the Secretariat, and to date over 130 companies from the tourism sector have participated.

This year, tourist accommodation units have a reduced 6% valued added tax, much lower compared to the previous standard 20% VAT. What does the business think about this incentive? Do they expect any impact in the future, is it already noticeable, or no impact is expected/noticeable? These are some of the questions that the analysis and the survey will attempt to answer in the end.