Tourism in Kosovo


is situated in south-eastern Europe. With its central position in the Balkans, it serves as a link in the connection between central and south Europe, the Adriatic Sea, and Black Sea.
Tourism in Kosovo is characterized by archaeological heritage from Illyrian, Dardanian, Roman, Byzantine, Serbian and Ottoman times, traditional Albanian and Serbian cuisine, architecture, religious heritage, traditions, and natural landscapes.
The New York Times included Kosovo on the list of 41 Places to go in 2011. In the same year, Kosovo saw a jump of about 40 places on the Skyscanner flight search engine which rates global tourism growth.
Kosovo's monuments are classified as common property for which the society is responsible to maintain them in order to transmit their authenticity to future generations.
Kosovo has a variety of natural features. It is surrounded by mountains: the Sharr Mountains are located in the south and southeast, bordering North Macedonia, while the Kopaonik Mountains rise in the north. The southwest borders with Montenegro and Albania are also mountainous, and home to the country's highest peak, Gjeravica, high. The central region is mainly hilly, but two large plains spread over Kosovo's west and east, respectively, Metohija plain and Kosovo plain.
The bulk of international tourists going to Kosovo are from Albania, Germany, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Croatia and Austria. Tourism is a growing sector with more tourists visiting every year.

Attractions

Cities

Some of the most visited cities include:
Via Ferrata Ari is a metallic structure in vertical rock which enables people to climb it. Via Ferrata date as structure from world war one. The one in Peć was built by Marimangat e Pejes in 2013 and 2014 with the support of donors. It has more than 100 stairs and the whole trip is around three kilometers.
The Statistical Agency of the Kosovo publishes hotel statistics on a quarterly basis since 2008.
In 2018, the reported number of hotel nights spent by non-residents was 321,308, compared to 273,394 in the previous year. The number of foreign visitors also increased from 162,234 in 2017 to 192,761 in 2018.
The following table illustrates the number of non resident visitors according to country of origin recorded in 2018.
The data was issued by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Kosovo.
RankCountryNumber
1Albania37,141
2Germany17,178
3Turkey14,848
4USA13,875
5Switzerland13,151
6North Macedonia7,842
7Serbia7,475
8United Kingdom6,482
9Italy6,292
10Croatia5,926
11Others53,522
Total192,761-

Issues regarding entering Kosovo

considers Kosovo to be an integral part of its territory and thus does not consider the designated crossing with Kosovo to be an international border. Serbia does not apply entry or exit stamps to the passports of those using these crossings. Serbia also does not recognize the designated entry points between Kosovo and third countries because they are not under the control of Serbian authorities. Foreign nationals have been denied entry to Serbia by Serbian border officials if they don't have a current Serbian entry stamp in their passport. If a visit to Serbia is planned after visiting Kosovo, entering Serbia proper via North Macedonia is recommended.
Citizens of Albania, Montenegro and Serbia may use a national ID card at border crossings with no stamping involved. Meanwhile, citizens of EU countries, North Macedonia, Monaco and San Marino may use a biometric national ID card

Annotations and references

References:

Official sites

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