Europe’s overlooked ‘undertourism capital’ that only a handful visit each year<\/a>![\"Albania's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1_paradise-beach-in-Ksamil-in-Albania.jpg\")
Albania’s pristine beaches and crystal clear seas have made it a popular holiday destination(Image: Getty)<\/p>\nAccording to a 2023 report by the Global Organised Crime Index, Albania is a transit country for heroin trafficked from Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to Europe. It\u2019s also a transit hub for cocaine smuggled from Latin America into Europe and the UK, the report says.<\/p>\n
Over the years, heroin and cocaine processing labs have been discovered in cities like Elbasan, Fier and Tirana. Meanwhile, Italian authorities estimated in 2016 that Albania\u2019s cannabis production alone was worth as much as \u20ac4.5 billion (\u00a33.85 billion).<\/p>\n
Besides drug trafficking, the report says the main criminal activities attributed to Albanian mafia groups \u2013 both domestically and internationally \u2013 are human smuggling and trafficking, as well as money laundering.<\/p>\n
Albania’s mafia is now in control of most of Europe’s trafficking network. Of the 45,000 migrants who crossed illegally into England in 2022, 12,000 were Albanians.<\/p>\n
And last year, a leaked Home Office legal document described Albanian criminal gangs as an ‘acute threat’ to the UK and ‘highly prevalent across serious and organised crime’ in Britain, including several murders. Albanian gangs are believed to dominate the UK’s illicit cocaine trade, said to be worth \u00a35bn a year.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1_Drone-view-of-Albanian-resort-of-Ksamil-on-coast-of-Ionian-sea.jpg\")
Ksamil, located in Albania, has been named “The Maldives of Europe”(Image: Getty Images\/iStockphoto)<\/p>\n
Criminologist Professor Xavier Raufer of Paris-Sorbonne University, who has studied the mafia for decades, says these are not just typical crime rings: “In the whole of Albania, there are maybe 30 big mafia families, with some of their traditions dating back to the Middle Ages. This makes them more dangerous as they operate with very strict rules and secretly.”<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cYou\u2019ll find these families all over Albania \u2013 of course, the most powerful being the one along the sea because it’s better for trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, Albania saw 39 killings, with most attributed to mafia-style assassinations. The country\u2019s strategic position has made it ideal for smugglers, and tourism, it seems, is now part of that equation. “People involved in real estate and tourism are increasingly linked to organised crime,” says the country\u2019s crime index report.<\/p>\n
Professor Raufer said, “No tourist will ever see it. If you go there, you are not even able to guess it because it’s a secret.”<\/p>\n
Former Albanian MP Rudina Hajdari blames the issue on state corruption: “Corruption has gotten higher and higher,” she said. “There have been allegations that many of these hotels in southern Albania were funded by drug traffickers.”<\/p>\n
![\"Beach](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_Beach-Pasqyra-near-Ksamil.jpg\")
The popular beach Pasqyra (Plazhi i Pasqyrave) between Ksamil and Sarande, Albania.(Image: Getty Images\/iStockphoto)<\/p>\n
She explained how they set up bank accounts through friends or relatives, gradually investing in real estate to launder money. “The government clearly allows that \u2013 whether they think it\u2019s a good idea to invest in tourism, infrastructure or just keep them in power. There’s a lot of money going into Albania that is primarily dirty.”<\/p>\n
According to reports, customs officials in the key port of Durres have allegedly been discouraged from checking certain vehicles, allowing drugs to be smuggled in cars, buses and trucks.<\/p>\n
In the southern seaside town of Himare, the mayor was arrested last year on corruption charges, accused of forging documents to seize government land for a private resort.<\/p>\n
Despite it all, Albania’s image abroad continues to shine. In 2024, it saw 11.7 million tourists, almost doubling its pre-pandemic figure, with an 8% year-on-year rise in visitor numbers.<\/p>\n
![\"Ksamil,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1_High-angle-view-of-Ksamil-Albania.jpg\")
Ksamil, a village on the shores of the Ionian Sea on the Albanian Riviera(Image: Getty Images\/iStockphoto)<\/p>\n
And now, even Jared Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump, is seeing the potential for profit. He has put forward plans to Sazan Island, an uninhabited island which was once a military base, into a luxury resort.<\/p>\n
His plans to turn the island into a holiday resort are estimated to cost \u20ac1.4 billion (\u00a31.2 billion), and says it will create 1,000 tourism jobs.<\/p>\n
Still, Hajdari insists the problem doesn\u2019t lie with ordinary people. She says: “This does not in any way reflect Albanian people \u2013 Albanians are just the most generous, welcoming, nicest people when people come and travel.”<\/p>\n
“Albania’s lack of opportunities and high corruption have created the ground for these illegal activities to flourish.”<\/p>\n
READ MORE: ‘Finally a suncream that isn\u2019t sticky!’ Parents’ delight as big tube of Eucerin SPF hits \u00a310 sale<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Albanian Riviera boasts stunning sights, beautiful beaches and crystal-clear waters, but experts are warning that many of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[44394,188,2000,299,5187,8610,46028,5006],"class_list":{"0":"post-99081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-cocaine","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-home-office","14":"tag-the-mafia","15":"tag-tourism"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114502660162143354","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1_Sunshade-umbrellas-deckchairs-and-boats-on-the-beautiful-Ksamil-beach-Vlore-Ionian-sea-Albania.jpg\")
The paradisiacal coast is just a cheap three-hour flight away from the UK(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n