Mirela Kumbaro, the Minister of Tourism and Environment, visited the “Hysen Çela” vocational high school in Durrës as part of a series of meetings dedicated to vocational education in this new academic year. Accompanying her were the Mayor, Emiriana Sako, and the Deputy Minister of Economy, Culture, and Innovation, Olta Manjani.
Out of more than 800 students enrolled at this school, about 430 are studying hospitality and tourism, specializing in areas such as bar-restaurant, kitchen-pastry, and hotel and restaurant services. The maritime studies program, with its two profiles, is also closely tied to the tourism sector.
The Minister of Tourism and Environment expressed that the new approaches in governance and the educational system have aimed to guide both students and parents toward vocational education, which has often been subject to prejudice.
“There has been a kind of prejudice against vocational schools, but the reality of the labor market has shown that the economy and the job market have evolved in such a way that professionally trained individuals are now in much higher demand,” said Minister Kumbaro during her visit to the school. She spoke with students and teachers about job opportunities and became familiar with the practical aspects of the learning process in this school.
From Durrës, Minister Kumbaro also introduced a new statistics tool, the “eVisitors” platform, as an effort to formalize the capacities of accommodation structures.
“We have seen a much higher utilization of bed capacities, which will be managed through a new tool we are building, a platform called eVisitors for statistics. It will help us understand the actual capacity of beds, the number of visitors, and their preferences. We have also started collaborations with Airbnb to formalize this entire market. Renting out apartments on platforms like Airbnb needs to be aligned with the tourism industry, hotels, and restaurants, as they create jobs while also avoiding damage to the real estate market. This will also help municipalities with what is known as the ‘tourist tax’, said Minister Kumbaro.
Kumbaro also spoke about valuing vocational education by increasing teachers’ salaries.
The August 2024 normative law allocated an additional ALL 240 million for new investments in vocational education in 2024, with a total investment budget of ALL 2.8 billion for the period 2024-2026.
The draft budget for 2025-2027 will also include investments in laboratories, schools, and vocational training centers.