Why Pristina And Prizren Are Skipped In Balkan Itineraris? Know The Reason Behind Kosovo’s Tourism Challenge

Thursday, July 17, 2025

On a balmy June morning, a 24-year-old world relations student from Naples, Giulia Marziale, sewage disconnected a autobus successful Pristina, nan superior of Kosovo. She and a group of different E.U. students had been connected vacation successful North Macedonia, but tales from Albanian friends had persuaded them to extremity successful Kosovo — moreover if conscionable for a fewer hours. They came that morning, near that evening, nan aboveground of a state of history and civilization and earthy beauty hardly scratched. “We had only 1 day,” Giulia said. “But I’d emotion to travel backmost and enactment longer. I’ve heard nan champion ones are extracurricular Pristina, but we couldn’t find immoderate accusation online.”

Giulia is not alone. Even if Kosovo has begun to popular connected nan radar of location travelers, it still chiefly exists arsenic a layover — a fistful of hours astatine best, a flash. For a state aspiring to create a sustainable tourism economy, this is an ain goal.

Visitors Come—but Rarely Stay Long

The Kosovo Agency of Statistics has reported a important emergence successful nan presence of overseas citizens. There were astir 358,000 world visitors successful Kosovo successful 2023 compared to astir 298,000 successful 2022. Non-residents spent astir 747,000 overnight stays successful nan city, up from 545,000 successful 2022.

But nan statistical averages hide a deeper truth: Many visitors don’t enactment very long. All successful all, visitors to Kosovo enactment conscionable 2 nights connected average. Many do not enactment overnight astatine all, coming successful for a mates of hours arsenic portion of a larger Balkan itinerary, peculiarly from neighboring Skopje successful North Macedonia. For a state that aspires to marque itself nan hub of Southeast Asian tourism, 2 nights doesn’t let for a lasting onslaught of economical and taste impact.

Key Challenges Behind Short Stays

Inaccessible Tourist Information

One of nan biggest barriers to longer stays is that location isn’t a central, functional, and transparent online accusation hub. Tourists often kick that they can’t find reliable and existent accusation connected what to spot and really to get around. Even nan Kosovo Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade—the authorities section responsible for tourism—features a surgery nexus to what is meant to beryllium nan charismatic tourism site. Because they person nary easy, businesslike website to behaviour investigation and scheme trips, astir woulbe visitors jump complete them toward destinations wherever everything is simpler to fig out.

No Separate Ministry for Tourism

Tourism is nan work of nan Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade. Whilst this assemblage does person a Tourism Department, its scope is wide and suffers from conflicting concerns. In opposition to countries pinch abstracted tourism ministries aliases boards, Kosovo does not person a centralized, tightly managed statement to aggressively beforehand nan improvement of its tourism. This administrative statement causes obstacles successful nan measurement of processing strategically and responding accelerated to projects that are much friends to visitors.

Underdeveloped Infrastructure and Services

The accommodation and cybernetworks that would support tourism are not yet successful place. This is not nan lawsuit successful ample cities specified arsenic Prizren and Peja, pinch charismatic landscapes and humanities importance, but galore agrarian and earthy sites are missing elemental facilities, signs, places to enactment there. Mountain and ecotourism, for instance, are afloat of imaginable but still underdeveloped because of fewer way markings, transportation, and knowledgeable guides.

Reliance connected Diaspora

Many of Kosovo’s “foreign” visitors are members of nan diaspora coming backmost to sojourn for holidays aliases family trips. Worthwhile economically, diaspora tourism does small to broaden nan country’s world floor plan aliases tie successful first-time visitors. Such visitors usually person predetermined lodging and walk little connected different forms of commercialized tourism.

Absence of Packaged Experiences

But galore visitors are uncertain astir really to clip their trip. There’s nary ready-made “three-day Kosovo” itinerary that lumps Pristina together pinch Prizren, Peja and nan earthy parks, nutrient and taste sites successful 1 fashionable package. Kosovo doesn’t animate roadworthy trips, aliases a desire to sojourn much than 1 city, if nan organized thematic tours (Ottoman practice routes, hiking circuits, etc.) don’t exist.

A Land of Untapped Treasures

Kosovo has arsenic galore taste and earthy resources arsenic immoderate of nan much celebrated spots of nan Balkans:

Prizren- A beautifully preserved Ottoman municipality pinch cobblestone streets, nan Sinan Pasha Mosque, and nan panoramic Prizren Fortress

Peja: Entrance to nan Rugovo Valley and nan Accursed Mountains. Great for hiking and different upland tourism.

Monasteries — A number of these person besides been designated arsenic UNESCO World Heritage Sites: nan Patriarchate of Peć and nan Monastery of Dečani pull galore civilization and belief tourists.

National Parks: The Bjeshkët e Nemuna and nan Sharr Mountains are a haven for outdoor enthusiasts pinch alpine lakes and virgin trails.

Despite these pearls, galore stay undiscovered because of deficiency of promotion and debased vulnerability successful world recreation press.

What nan Government Has Done So Far

The Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, done nan Department of Tourism, has formulated nationalist plans for sustainable tourism, location collaboration and promotion of investment. Different aviator projects person benefited from philanthropist programs, successful peculiar successful upland tourism, hospitality training and agritourism. For instance, mini grants person helped agrarian communities pine up guesthouses and farms to beryllium utilized arsenic tourer lodgings.

But execution is sluggish, and these projects person yet to scope nan magnitude that mightiness alteration Kosovo’s estimation worldwide….Without nan wider support of circuit and recreation operators, destination trading and integer booking platforms, specified initiatives are constricted successful what effect they tin have.

Lessons from nan Region

Balkan neighbors Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro person rebranded themselves to prosecute their diasporas, by trading themselves together and holding awesome tourism fairs to propulsion together much visitors. They were early adopters of online booking tools, multilingual guides and metropolis passes that promote travelers to enactment longer and spot more.

Kosovo, connected nan different hand, has yet to found a azygous level wherever travelers tin book tours, places to stay, aliases experiences successful respective parts of nan country. Instead, astir overseas visitors opt to walk done – aliases return to – yet much swiftly arranged neighbors.

A Peek At What’s Cooking On The Ground

As Arta, a mini café proprietor successful cardinal Pristina, put it: “We spot a batch of visitors who travel for a fewer hours and leave. They’re happy, they want to study — but nary 1 supports it aft nan first steps.” Her regulars are either locals aliases members of nan diaspora, she says. “Sometimes, group perceive astir our spot by word-of-mouth aliases from immoderate blog post, but ne'er of an charismatic tract aliases a map.”

In nan aforesaid vein, astir visitors stumble upon Kosovo’s outdoor possibilities, says Valdetë Collaku, a certified upland guideline from Peja. “Places they expected to beryllium beautiful, they are beautiful, but they’re not fresh for it. There’s nary strategy that helps them find nan adjacent way aliases book section guides. It’s each fragmented.”

Conclusion: A Country Worth Screwing, But Not Quite Ready For It

Kosovo has nan makings of a awesome destination — it has diverseness successful culture, extent of history, hospitality of heart, and inspiring landscapes. What it seems to beryllium missing, is simply a concerted effort to show nan world what it has to offer. As young visitors for illustration Giulia Marziale find, there’s plentifulness to observe — and not astir capable guidance for discovering it. Until authorities institutions, section operators and world partners subordinate forces to make it easier to widen a traveler’s stay, Kosovo will beryllium a state group walk through, not enactment and experience.

References:
Kosovo Statistical Agency, MIET Tourism Department.