INFLUENCE OF TOURISM ON THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: CASE OF ALBANIA AND BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA

Tourism is an important sector of the country’s economy because it brings a large amount of income in payment for goods and services. Also it creates great opportunities for employment in the service sector of the economy associated with it. To European Union, tourism is an important economic activity because it contributes to employment and economic growth; and development and socioeconomic integration in rural, peripheral or underdeveloped area. Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina are two potential candidate countries, working on different criteria in order to reach the standards required to be member of European Union. Both countries are developing different strategies to eliminate regional disparities, and tourism is seen as a key factor in this regards. This paper aims to review the strategies of tourism of both countries in order to analyze its influence on regional development. The purpose of this paper is to review the tourist regions and resources of both countries with the intention of analyzing the potential they have to develop tourism. The questions that are raised are if these strategies influence on the regional development of the country, in other words, are they helping the poorest regions to catch up with the richest ones, which are the sector of the economy that benefits most, etc. Conclusion: Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina have great potential of natural, cultural, religious and historic tourism. These countries have still work to do in the development of tourism strategies on the respective countries in order to have a bigger impact in the regional development.