ALBANIA: UNESCO Not a Life Saver

By Zoltán Dujisin Reprint | | Print |

Zoltán Dujisin

GJIROKASTRA, Jul 29 2007 (IPS) - Good looks have not sufficed to make Gjirokaster, a picturesque historical city in Southern Albania, the wealthy and successful tourist destination it aspires to be.

Tourism is practically the only aspiration for the 30,000-inhabitant town where most of its formerly important light industries have gone bankrupt.

In 2005 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisations (UNESCO) included the southern Albanian town in its World Heritage List, a status-granting achievement that helps with maintaining and cataloguing sites of cultural interest.

Gjirokaster, the birthplace of former communist ruler Enver Hoxha, began flourishing under Ottoman rule, and its architectonical evolution boasts some unique 17th and 19th century styles. National recognition of its cultural value came before, in 1961, when authorities granted it the status of a ‘museum city’.

The former communist ruler was very fond of his hometown, which still votes overwhelmingly socialist, and hundreds of people were employed in preservation of the town, which was taken for granted by residents.

But today the local office of the Institute of Monuments is highly understaffed. The town’s traditional houses formally enjoy very strong legal protection, but in practice neglect and lack of aesthetic care are often visible, and illegal construction, as elsewhere in Albania, is taking a toll on Gjirokaster’s landscape.

“In the museum zone of the city there are hundreds of bits of illegal construction not following historical guidelines,” David Bragg, a U.S. citizen who was assigned to Gjirokaster by Peace Corps, a humanitarian organisation, and who is now helping get tourism information across through a series of projects in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) told IPS. “And while laws are there, there is no will or capacity to implement them.”

When the town was included in UNESCO’s heritage list, many locals thought the West had come to save Gjirokaster from its neglect. But little has changed and high expectations have given place to sour feelings. “Nothing has improved here,” Sofia, an aged local ethnic Greek told IPS. “Ever since the change of regime things get worse by the year.”

“The perception is that UNESCO would solve its problems,” explains Auron Tare, director of the Albanian National Trust, “but UNESCO does not give money, it is just a prestigious title.”

Tare told IPS that UNESCO status increases awareness so that “local people try to do something for their own town rather than expecting UNESCO or other organisations to help them.”

Bragg says the Albanian government makes investment difficult, precisely when there is a pressing need for wealthy foreigners to save decaying buildings. While foreigners can purchase property in Albania, the most valuable buildings are not accessible to them. Moreover, foreigners who invest in Albania often consider these investments to be risky.

The World Bank’s latest ‘Doing Business’ report ranks Albania among the worst countries when it comes to protecting foreign investment, in 162nd place. But this city still offers many opportunities for those wishing to invest in tourism, while saving the town’s architectonical patrimony.

Kate Yarhouse, also part of the Peace Corps programme to promote tourism in the city, told IPS that many of the endangered houses could be turned into bed & breakfast places, “which would still be worth the investment in spite of the high cost of renovations.”

Marketing would only be prioritised once the city offers minimal conditions to tourists. “We are trying to put infrastructure before marketing,” Yarhouse said.

The danger with focusing on marketing lies in the high expectations tourists invariably have when arriving at a UNESCO site. “If they are not properly prepared, tourists might go back and say they did not find the image that was being promoted to correspond to reality,” Tare told IPS. “People are not coming to Gjirokaster because of the lack preparedness for tourism.”

Tare is also among the founders of one of Albania’s most successful tourist destinations, the Butrint National Park in Southern Albania that due to its archaeological and environmental value has become, together with Gjirokaster, the only other UNESCO site in Albania.

“Butrint was successful because we invested and built bridges with the communities,” he says. “The moment you don’t engage them you are going to have problems. They are shareholders of what happens to their places. Doing tourism with the presence of locals is something very new in Albania, it should become a national strategy.”