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Gjirokastra, the city that welcomes tourists like Christ, and treats them like a sheikh
2025-07-09 18:04:34 / IDE
Gjirokastra this summer has produced more news about the “tourist boom”, but fewer tourists.
“There are 30% fewer”, says a first-hand source from Qafa e Pazarit. There is no conspiracy. Nor is the hot summer the cause.
“The tourist is not stupid”, says Skënder.
In Qafë-Pazar, where a bottle of beer costs 5 thousand lekë and four qifqi, the famous qifqi, 10 thousand lekë, it seems as if the city has not yet understood a basic rule of tourism: that tourists should not be afraid.
Gjirokastrians are proud and thrifty. So thrifty that all the stingy anecdotes from all over the world are attributed to Gjirokastrians. It is true that they are stingy, but strangely they expect others to loosen their grip. Especially "those who come from Tirana," who have become the best customers.
"It's a matter of culture," says a small bar owner. "Foreigners are not stupid. Instead of 5 thousand lek in Qafë i Pazarit, they buy beer at the market and drink it on the streets."
Meanwhile, the city, as Rigelsi admits, lives with a wrong tourist mentality: some think that it is enough to open the door of the house and all the tourists from the world will come there.
Prices skyrocket. 100 euro hotel? Yes, you can find it cheaper even in Paris.
1 kg of roasted meat? 34 thousand lek.
For a family with two salaries at home, even a dinner out is a luxury.
After all, only Dauti's butcher works full-time.
The conversation moves further.
Compare the offer of Corfu with Saranda!
Patriotic tourism is gone, because Kosovars go to Thessaloniki and not to Saranda.
A week's vacation here costs 4-5 thousand euros, while in Greece it costs 1500.
The level of service does not match the prices.
Reflection
After three years of rising prices, what was both expected and unexpected has happened: the finger of blame has turned on itself.
In conversations with local journalists, business owners and citizens, tones of honest:
"We have taken the tourist for a fool, but he is not"
"What can you say about a city where the lecturers grab you by the jacket: Oh, come on, register because our branch is closing?!
The University of Gjirokastra does not have more than 200 registrations per year, while there were 3000 - 4000 registrations.
A city without theater, without sports.
- It has the neck of the Bazaar!
- Very good, but too late
- Can't you see that there are no children? Even young people want to leave.
Gjirokastra is the only city with negative population growth.
How much has the city changed?
"Gjirokastra does not change, but the houses have turned into hostels. The infrastructure of the characteristic part has changed".
"The city has a paradox: it has developed and it has become empty", says Aleksandr and the painful comparison is with Saranda.
Saranda has grown to 55 thousand inhabitants.
Gjirokastra has less than 20 thousand inhabitants.
The figures are stubborn.
The characteristic houses are being turned into hostels while the new neighborhoods are “dead”.
And yet, the question that does not receive an optimistic answer is:
What will Gjirokastra be like in 5 years?
“Like Memaliaj”, says a resident. “Abandoned”.
The city has been on the UNESCO list for 20 years. But… there is not a single information point for tourists.
Cleaning machines work during visiting hours.
And the news of the day: “Tourist boom in Gjirokastra”.
Perfect cynicism. A more imaginary boom on a city that is emptying day by day.
“And when we talk about prices, we must be clear, says Skënder, that we are not Prague”.
A cynical poet from the city once wrote:
“I loved my homeland because of my father.
My soul shines there in heaven.
What did this rock like?
Maybe it will tell me when it leaves on its own.”
To break my pessimism, I ask them to tell me something beautiful.
What is good about the city?
Memories.
But the city cannot live on nostalgia alone. The famous cobblestones, the small windows, the narrow streets that visitors comment on, associating them with the frugal nature of the people of Gjirokastër, are not enough to sustain an economy.
In Gjirokastër, there is no lack of pride, nor history, nor stones. Only patience is missing.
Foreign tourists are rational. Those who come are not stupid. And those you take for stupid when they leave, never return.
And when even the people of Gjirokastër say:
“We overdid it with the prices,” it is a sign that the stone city has begun to wake up.
Because even UNESCO cannot save a city that sells itself as a museum, and that treats tourists with a kiosk mentality!
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