[01] Rakela THANO, Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of Tirana, Saranda Branch, Saranda, Albania.

Today the majority of countries are facing serious problems due to the deficit in the balance of payments. That is why the governments of these countries try to stimulate those sectors of the economy which can help in bringing foreign currency in the economy, which they need so as to reduce the negative balance of payments as much as possible. This is especially important for the developing countries, whose domestic currency is not very strong. The aim of this article is to analyze the role that tourism plays on the balance of payments in the case of Albania. To do this we will take into consideration the data regarding this activity which were taken from INSTAT and Bank of Albania and include the 2004-2013 time period. Making a quantitative comparative analysis between the balance of payments indicators and indices representing the tourism sector, the number of tourists and tourist receipts, for various years, we reached the conclusions that, in Albania, firstly, the tourist sector has a positive impact on the balance of payments and secondly, exports of services in Albania are mostly supported in tourism exports. In 2012 compared with 2005 the number of tourists has increased by 370% and receipts account "travel" have increased by 65%. As for 2013 compared with 2012 the number of tourists has been decreased by 7.4% and revenues account “travel” has been declined by 3.3%.

Balance of Payments, Export of Tourism, Current Account, Export of Services

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