Word: albtourist
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Still, to earn desperately needed hard currency, the country's Communist bosses maintain an official guide service, Albtourist, which boasts of "incomparable Adriatic beaches" (all guarded by cruising police boats) and "centuries-old ruins." Business has been a little slack for Albtourist in the other satellite countries since Albania's quarrel with Khrushchev. Albtourist has even hopefully sent its tourist folders to a small West German travel agency in Cologne. TIME Correspondent Edward Behr decided to apply as a tourist. He had to wait six weeks for a visa, at last entered Albania on a once-a-week...
Upon arriving in Tirana, Correspondent Behr was firmly taken in hand by a state guide from Albtourist, who accompanied him everywhere, tried to take him sightseeing in locked buses. The guide went through the motions of passing along requests for interviews with government officials, actors, even local journalists; invariably, they were said to be sick, on vacation, or in mourning for suddenly deceased relatives...
Since no foreigner can hire a taxi in Albania, the government guide was a necessary companion. More helpful was a Japanese reporter, who teamed with Behr, was regularly saluted by Albanians, who took him for a Chinese. Outnumbering the man from Albtourist, the two newsmen occasionally split up and deliberately got lost to enjoy a few minutes on their own. These escapes never lasted long, thanks to the ubiquitous secret police, the Sigurimi, and other troops (onefourth of the nation's adult manpower is in uniform). Furthermore, officials cautioned the visitors that if they did not behave themselves, they...
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