Tourism in Albania: a local authority perspective - Shkodra's case

Local authorities have many direct and indirect mechanisms at their disposal and responsibility to influence the development of tourism as they are providers of public goods and services, builders of public infrastructure, supervisory bodies of economic activities, responsible for economic development and accountable to the natural environment. Prior to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, mainly since the approval of Agenda 21, many local authorities have focused on the distinctive challenges of governance for sustainable development. This also applies to Albania. In Shkodra (Albania), tourism is one of the many driving forces prompting the directions and opportunities for local development. The research question of this article is whether tourism can be sustainable, i.e. whether it can enhance the local sustainable development, in the context of the Local Agenda 21 process. This article discusses the development of the tourism industry in Albania and Shkodra. It also calls for both local and national agencies, and respective stakeholders to support the Local Agenda 21 implementation by taking action in communities where tourism is an important sector in the process of economic development. The true proof of "sustainable tourism" will be the sustainable development of local communities which are tourist destinations as the time is right for more focus on this challenge.