Due to their market relevance and size, destinations have the potential to be developed, managed and marketed under sustainability aspects. A prerequisite for this is the establishment of efficient destination management organisations (DMOs) that take over the management of the destination and the coordination of the various tourism stakeholders.

On behalf of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, we supported mascontour GmbH in advising the Albanian Ministry of Tourism and Environment and the National Tourism Agency on the development of a suitable destination management framework for the establishment of DMOs and by making proposals for the restructuring of the National Tourism Agency.

The assignment focused mainly on two areas. Firstly, the development of a national framework for appropriate destination management structures, taking into account the national, regional and local levels. For this purpose, an analysis of the current situation including the legal framework, institutional capacities in destination marketing management and initiatives to build DMOs in Albania was carried out. This enabled the creation of a national framework for destination management based on the three-tier DMO model, including a development process and implications for the legal situation for DMOs. In addition, the Ministry was advised on the restructuring of the Tourism Agency to strengthen its institutional and organisational framework and staff capacity and improve its performance and efficiency. The proposed restructuring included the governance structure, strategic objectives, scope of work and organisational structure based on comparable national tourism organisations.

The need to strengthen destination management and establish functional management structures for tourism in Albania is based on the national strategy for sustainable tourism development and it is hoped that the advice and recommendations will make a valuable contribution to its development and strengthening.