Evaluation of Lake Shkoder, Lake Ohrid and Prespa Lake Shores on the Rural Development in Albania

Sevda Çetinkaya¹ and Çağlar Kıvanç Kaymaz²

¹Universityof Mustafa Kemal, Faculty of Education, Hatay-TURKEY.

²University of Atatürk, Faculty of Art, Department of Geography, Erzurum-TURKEY.

Corresponding Author’s Email: karatasatilla@hotmail.com

Accepted 15 December, 2013

Abstract

Albania, which is a Balcan country, is famous for its natural beauties especially its lakes. Although it is located in an area with a great potential in tourism, for many years it hasn’t been able to make use of this potential in a fertile way. Rural and urban settlement on the lakeshores have not only surrounded the lakeshores but also created great problems in terms of land use. In order to solve these problems initially fit for purpose shore use policies should be enhanced. By this means it will play a role in preserving the natural heritage, forwarding it to the next generations and enhancing development of the country. Firstly, the developmental differentialities between the lakeshores and the inner parts of Albania should be got rid of and then in order to provide the rural development, Shkoder, Ohrid, and Prespa lakes should be made the best of. Therefore, in this study both the evaluation of these lakes in terms of tourism activities and some suggestions and evaluations about the future sustainable tourism actions have been dealt with.

Keywords: Rural development. Sustainable development. Agriculture. Ecotourism.