The Albania Infrastructure and Tourism-Enabling Project (AITP) is a joint EU-EBRD programme that supports sustainable tourism-led economic development in Albania. It combines EBRD financing and EU grant funding to improve the quality, sustainability and competitiveness of Albania’s tourism sector by developing tourism products and destinations, restoring and enhancing cultural and natural heritage assets, upgrading municipal and transport infrastructure, improving skills, and increasing access to finance for MSMEs.

The programme focuses on the pilot municipalities of Berat, Fier, Korce and Shkoder. The programme is implemented through four implementation windows:

• Window 1 – Tourism-Focused Technical Assistance that includes destination development, tourism product creation, SME advisory services, skills development, and gender and economic inclusion.
• Window 2 – Rehabilitation of Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites that includes financing the restoration, preservation and sustainable management of cultural and natural heritage assets.
• Window 3 – Rehabilitation and Construction of Municipal and Transport Infrastructure that includes upgrading tourism-enabling municipal and transport infrastructure to improve accessibility, connectivity and climate resilience.
• Window 4 – Credit Lines or Risk Sharing through Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) that includes expanding financing opportunities for tourism-related MSMEs.

By combining investment, technical assistance, advisory services and incentives, AITP promotes destination development, skills enhancement, gender and economic inclusion, climate-resilient infrastructure and private sector growth.

• Raise the quality and sustainability of the tourism offer in pilot municipalities (Korce, Berat, Fier and Shkoder).
• Enhance and preserve cultural and natural heritage assets.
• Improve tourism-enabling municipal and transport infrastructure and climate resilience.
• Increase access to finance for tourism-related MSMEs.
• Promote skills development, gender inclusion and local economic development.

• An increase in the average length of stay and visitor numbers across the pilot destinations of Berat, Fier, Korçë and Shkodër.
• The training and skills development of at least 2,000 tourism sector participants and more than 200 experts from public institutions and cultural and natural heritage sites, with women accounting for at least half of all beneficiaries.
• The restoration and enhancement of 24 cultural heritage, natural asset and tourism-related infrastructure.
• Mobilisation of EBRD financing through participating financial institutions to expand access to finance and strengthen the competitiveness of tourism-related MSMEs.