Albania will allocate 2.08 billion lek to the Cultural Heritage and Museums programme in 2027, marking an 80% increase compared with 2026, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports Blendi Gonxhja announced on Thursday.

Presenting the draft budget to the Parliamentary Committee on Culture, Tourism and Diaspora, Gonxhja said the increased funding would support the protection, restoration, revitalisation and promotion of the country’s cultural heritage. Investment funding will also quadruple, reaching 1.11 billion lek, or 53% of the programme’s total budget.

Cultural heritage sites welcomed more than 1.5 million visitors in 2025, up 4.7 times from 2013, when they recorded 325,000 visitors. In the first nine months of 2026 alone, visitor numbers exceeded 1.32 million, generating more than 528 million lek in revenue. Compared with the same period in 2025, investment in cultural heritage sites increased by 400%, while conservation, restoration and archaeological research projects rose by 133%.

For 2027, restoration, conservation and archaeological projects will extend across the country, including Tirana, Durrës, Kruja, Berat, Vlora, Gjirokastër, Korça and Shkodra. Key projects include the reconstruction and complete redesign of the National Historical Museum, supported by the European Investment Bank, as well as interventions at UNESCO-listed heritage sites in Gjirokastër and Berat.

Archaeological work will also continue at the Roman Amphitheatre of Durrës and Kruja Castle, alongside restoration projects at several religious monuments and historic sites. In addition, a new state-supported scheme will help restore privately owned listed heritage houses. The state and property owners will share restoration costs, with around 30 houses in Gjirokastër, Berat and Shkodra targeted for intervention in 2027.