Why Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s luxury resorts are exactly the type of tourism Albania does not need

There’s so much to love about Albania. It is, without doubt, one of the kindest and most welcoming countries I’ve visited in Europe. It is also one of the poorest; one that could gain immensely from the economic benefits of tourism. But I, like the thousands of Albanians who have been protesting on the streets of Tirana over the past two and a half weeks, don’t believe this tourism should come from Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

I’m writing today from the coastal city of Vlorë – admittedly not the prettiest spot on this stretch of Albania’s southern coast, but full of character, and nestled beside some of the Mediterranean’s most important ecological sites. This morning I took a boat over to Sazan Island, which sits around 18km from the mainland.

It was this island that Ivanka spoke breathlessly about on a podcast at the end of May, claiming that she and her husband Jared Kushner were working on a real estate project here on a “massive scale”. She told the host how she came across the island while on a friend’s yacht sailing in the Mediterranean and had returned with “some of the greatest living architects of our time”. Her husband Jared Kushner had already sparked outrage among Albanians after revealing plans backed by his private equity firm for a luxury resort on the Zvërnec Peninsula across from Sazan Island, with talk of 10,000 hotel rooms.

The proposed development would be on protected land that’s home to over 200 bird species, including flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans, as well as 70 endangered species, such as the monk seal and loggerhead sea turtle. The Albanians I spoke to were clear: they have no problem with tourism development – they actively welcome tourists to their country – but Ivanka and Jared’s resorts have no place here. Tourism development should respect Albania’s cultural and natural heritage, and should improve the lives of its citizens and communities, rather than profiting foreign investors and a few wealthy individuals.

As is so often the case, the first local opinion I heard was offered by a cab driver. As I arrived in Tirana and we drove into the city from the airport, Tony told me about the hotel he hoped to run on the outskirts of the capital. Having lived in Italy for several years, he returned home to find a fledgling tourism industry and planned to run a place where visitors could stay for a night or two after arriving in Tirana before heading off to the coast or mountains. Then he laughed, shrugged and said: “But I’m poor. So who knows if I can do it.”

When done right, tourism can have huge economic and cultural benefits, and Albania has so much to offer travellers – from a lively capital city to the sweeping Adriatic coastline, the lakes of Butrint National Park and the Valbona Valley trails.

So I would certainly encourage you to travel to Albania. But please, stay in Tony’s hotel – not Jared’s.

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