Metropolitan University Tirana has organized the Workshop, which is already a 5-year-old tradition, “Investment and The Real Estate Market in Albania—Impact from Tourism Development”. The theme chosen for this year was the field of tourism, as a sector of interest and promising future for investors. This event took place with the participation of Deputy Minister of Tourism and Environment Vilma Bello, Didactic Director of this course David Allen, real estate experts, and representatives of other political institutions.
The workshop is finalizing a 20-week postgraduate course that prepares real estate appraisal experts, a profession much sought after by the labor market. In his greeting address, rector Nikolla Civici spoke of the focus UMT devotes to scientific research, while also giving the news of the opening of PhDs in the field of artificial intelligence.
“Metropolitan University, focused mainly on the field of technical sciences, engineering, and economics, and subsequently has grown steadily and has taken the full form of a university in which all activities of both teaching and scientific research take place, becoming part of several European projects. This year, even the opening of the doctorate in the field of Artificial Intelligence has been announced, Civici said.
Invited to this Workshop, was the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Environment, Vilma Bello, who presented a panorama of opportunities for the investors in this sector.
“As one of the most important engines of national growth, tourism generates significant amounts of revenue growth in the state budget, entrepreneurial budget, and family budget. According to forecasts (World Travel and Tourism Council Economic Report), by 2028 the tourism sector, directly and indirectly, is expected to take 1/3 of Albania’s Gross Domestic Product”, Dy. Minister Bello said in her address.
According to her, in terms of investments in this area, which is also why this Workshop takes place, Albania has adopted a liberal legal framework designed to create a favorable investment climate for foreign investors.
“The potentials are endless, however in certain areas we must work further with the unique characteristics that each designated area has to make a destination that is intelligently articulated to also promote the efficiency in innovation by not disconnecting the strong link that tourism development should have with environmental conservation”, Bello added.
Metropolitan Tirana University President Arjan Çukaj stressed the university’s role in filling the empty spaces of the Albanian education market and the importance of the Investment and Real Estate Assessment Course as coherent
to the labor market and economic sectors.
Since its beginnings, Metropolitan University Tirana had been thought and formatted to be a university that would fill those empty spaces lacking in the education in Albania, it would be coherent with the labor market and sectors of the economy, and as such it has focused on those sciences that the market requires most, in parallel with expertise and scientific activities that serve the problems of the economy throughout Albania. For years we have decided to build this course of postgraduate education and David Allen has been the first to bring this innovation by raising it to a scientific level and offering opportunities on how to be active in this market where interest is great”, said Arjan Çukaj.
The Real Estate Assessment and Investment Course is run by British expert David Allen, a well-known international figure in the real estate field.
“We are at the end of the 20-week course with specialists from the field of architecture, economics, and engineering. The reason is that property cannot be valued without the union of these professions. Economists need to have information about the structure, layout, and urban planning. But on the other hand, it cannot work without the market being assessed, on how demand and supply work, and what are the factors that influence supply. This is a new profession, which in 1992 when I came to Albania, did not exist,” Allen said during his word.
In this activity, they maintained their references on the studies of market, capital, challenges, and advantages of this sector Dr. Frida Pashako, Lefter Silla, Stela Dhami, and Migena Zaçe, having focused on tourism development.
