MANAGING SUSTAINABLE COASTAL TOURISM FOR THE FRAGILE NORTH AREA OF DURRES

The north part of the city of Durres, is a very virgin and natural coastal area because of the lack of infrastructure. It linear spread offers the entire natural (climate, landscape, ecosystems) and cultural (historic and archeological) resources to propose a very profitable coastal tourism and suits to specific types of tourism activities. Because of the city developments and the need for tourism profits, this area is under the great pressure of different stakeholders. Urban plans and developments organized by the municipality and completed by foreign studios estimate to develop the area with hotels, resorts and tourism activities. Meanwhile the zone is under protections and declared by the Territorial Regulatory Council as a Protected Park. Although the number of tourist visiting the country has increased every year since 1991 and the importance of the tourism sector’s contributions to the economy cannot be dismissed, this sector generates a host of undesirable effects and impacts on the environment and the landscape. In the south part of Durres, tourism has aggravated existing environmental problems and drastically changed the natural landscape. In order to promote the development of an appropriate kind of tourism that prevents or minimizes environmental degradations and loos of natural landscapes, more in-depth studies are needed for an understanding of the industry’s problems. The present study is an attempt to highlight the impacts of tourism on the environment and to represents some possible types of tourism which the different stakeholder may consider while projecting the future of the area.