Albania Extends Motorised Boats Ban, to Detriment of Tourism

8 February 2010

In an effort to fight illegal trafficking, Albania’s parliament adopted another three-year ban on the use of motorised boats, which critics say hamper the country’s tourist industry.

Aimed at stopping people and drug traffickers to Italy and Greece, the moratorium – first put in place in 2005, affected around 2,000 Albanian speedboat owners.

According to albanian press, speedboats were commonly used in the 1990s to traffic migrants and drugs from Albania to Italy, but following closer cooperation between Albania and its neighbours, there has been a decline in their use.

Although tourist boats and jet skis are excluded from the ban, they still are still subject to a set of rules..

The moratorium’s critics find the moratorium unnecessary and say that it is damaging the country’s tourism industry and local fishermen.