The tourism industry in Albania has experienced significant growth and transformation in recent years, becoming an increasingly popular destination in Europe. This industry is a large contributor to the economy of Albania through generating jobs and revenue. In the year 2023, 10.1 million tourists visited the country which was an increase of 56% from 2019. This also helped to grow the country’s economy by 5% in 2022 and the GDP has reached $23 billion. Hence the tourism industry has become a major strength of the country.
In this article, we discuss the entrepreneurial journey of a woman entrepreneur Blerina Ago. She is the founder of Active Albania and a tourism consultant. Active Albania is an innovative tourism company that provides sustainable solutions to bring transformations by contributing to the development of new tourism products with a small impact on the environment.
About Blerina Ago
Blerina Ago is an entrepreneur and tourism consonant. She is also a pioneer of destination promotion for the Balkans. Blerina is a graduate with a Master of Science, in Law from the University of Tirana.
At the age of 14 years, she became the first girl to practice rafting in Albania. She was also a Secretary General for the Albanian Rafting Federation for 8 years. After graduation, she worked as a project assistant and was responsible for planning, management, coordination, and financial control of projects.
Blerina Ago worked as an Advisor for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2016 to 2017 and the Ministry of Tourism and Environment from 2018 to 2019. She was the Chief Executive Officer of Albania Adventure Resort, which is an innovative environment-friendly Adventure Tourism enterprise that aims to boost the local economy through tourism.
In the year 2020, she developed a travel show called Blerina Travels in Quarantine, where she used to share past travel experiences and advice with experts worldwide about the transformation of tourism during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. She is also a sustainability consultant and contributed to the establishment of Central Savona in Liguria, Italy, with a special focus on sustainability management.
At Active Albania, she started working as an Author for a tourism digital campaign. Later she became a sustainability coordinator and was responsible for sustainability management. Since the year 2020, she has been leading the company as a founder and has undertaken several tourism sustainability initiatives.
About Active Albania
Active Albania is a tourism tourism company from Albania that offers active holidays in the Western Balkan. It provides sustainable solutions to bring transformations by promoting the best of a destination/ organization.
In the last decade, the company has successfully co-founded and has led different sports and tourism organizations like the Albanian Rafting Federation, Albania Rafting Group, and the public-private partnership Albanian Adventure Resort. Active Albania aims to generate income through commercial activities, which would help to enhance standards across all tourism activities and raise the profile of Albania as a green and active tourism destination.
Awards and Recognitions
Blerina Ago received the Sustainable Development Goals Business Pioneer Award Albania 2023 award which was issued by the Embassy of Sweden in Albania, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). She won the Green Apple Award Winner as CEO of the Albanian Adventure Resort in 2015. She is a Model of Sustainable Tourism Development from the Ministry of Tourism and Environment in Albania. She was also an Industry Leader, Innovator, Activist, and Social Entrepreneur from UN Women Europe and Central Asia in 2019. She has been named one of the “100 women of the 100th years” by various Albanian media (UNIQUE – Balkanweb, News24, etc) focusing on the profiles of the 100 most successful Albanian women of the century.
Blerina Ago being an entrepreneur and tourism consultant through her innovative approaches aims to attract tourists to Albania. She actively supports the regional tourism sector by sharing best practices and helping to draft a legal framework for active tourism that aligns with international standards.