Tourism in Pristina

Tourism in Pristina attracted 36,186 foreign visitors in 2012, which represents 74.2% of all visitors that visited Kosovo during that year. Foreign visitors mostly come from countries like Albania, Turkey, Germany, United States, Slovenia and North Macedonia, but also from other countries. Some of the most visited places in Pristina are Batlava Lake and Gadime Marble Cave, which are also among the most visited places in Kosovo.
Pristina is the first touristic destination in Kosovo and the main air gateway to Kosovo. The number of foreign visitors that have visited Prishtina during 2012 grew by more than 10 thousand visitors since 2008, when there were 25,434 visitors. During the first quarter of 2013 the number of hotels in Prishtina was 24 from 102 hotels that were in total in Kosovo and during the third quarter of the year 2013, 18.85% of hotel capacity were used and during the same period of that year, in Prishtina 423 rooms were with one bed, 268 rooms with two beds, 13 rooms with three beds, 49 apartments and 6 residents.
Since 2009, Kosovo Tourism Association organizes an annual Tourism Fair in Pristina, which is intended to attract foreign visitors to Kosovo. In the International Tourism Fair held in Tokyo, Japan, in 2013, 4 day packages have been presented that a tourist from Asia can enjoy in Kosovo, starting from Pristina, then continuing in Peja, Gjakova and concluding in Prizren.
Pristina is a place that is known as a university center of students from regional countries like Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia and it represents a plateau of the combination of native, Ottoman and Yugoslav culture. Its people are people that are known for hospitality and religious tolerance, where people in the city are mostly Muslims, but there are also Catholics, Orthodoxes, Atheists and people of other religions. Around 23% of the people belong the group age of 16-27, who are also very optimistic.
Pristina has played a very important role during the World War II, being a shelter for Jews, whose cemeteries now can be visited.
Coffee bars are a representative icon of Prishtina and they can be found almost everywhere and are also centers of different festivals and events. In the region of Prishtina there is Gracanica monastery, which is in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Statistics.
The table below shows the number of national and international visitors and the number of nights spent in Prishtina from 2008 until 2012. As it can be seen from the table, one of the most successful year for tourism in Prishtina was the year 2012.
Issues affecting tourism.
Tourism is showing some positive indications that it is improving in Kosovo and also in Prishtina. 
Ottoman Prishtina.
A very large part of the city of Prishtina has a lot of oriental elements, including causeway roads, many mosques, bazars and The Memorial Monument of Gazimestan. Some of the mosques are King Mosque, built during the years 1460–1461 from Sulltan Mehmet II al Fatih, Jashar Pasha Mosque and Çarshia Mosque.
In Prishtina there is the Big Bazar which today is a very active zone in the city of Prishtina, although a large part of it has been destroyed in years 1950s, which still has the same style of a lot of other bazars that can be found in Balkan.
Yugoslav Prishtina.
Prishtina was impacted from Yugoslavia because it was part of Yugoslav Federation for a few decades, taking elements of The Yugoslav Style, where such buildings can be seen even today.
Parks.
Prishtina has a number of parks like The City Park, Taukbahqe Park, Arberia Park, and the most known, Germia National Park. Germia is a rich place of flora and fauna, with more than 75 percent of its territory covered with forests and its highest point is 1,050 meters above the sea level. It has some sport fields, walking and biking paths, some restaurants and a lake-sized swimming pool.
Events and Festivals.
Prishtina is a place where a lot and different events and festivals take place, that attract a lot of both national, and international visitors.
Traditional food.
The best known of all and most distinctive one, "flija", is prepared year-round but is a summer favourite. Flija made with "saç" is a specialty from the traditional Albanian cuisine, that is mostly prepared in mountainous areas. It is most certainly one of the typical Kosovar dishes that everyone local will recommend. Baklava is one of the traditional pastries of the Kosovar cuisine, although of Turkish origin. Bakllasarem is also a traditional food of Kosovo it is a salty pie with yoghurt and garlic covering.
Nightlife.
Prishtina has a small area, but with a lot of coffee bars, that are near each other. Nightlife amazes the foreign visitors and it is mainly concentrated in the Mother Teresa boulevard, Fehmi Agani road and Pejton neighborhood. Past Korza where the youth walked in the Mother Teresa boulevard has already been replaced with night clubs, discos and different coffee bars, where Hamam Bar, that offers life jazz music, has entered among the top five bar restaurants with the best enteriour design in the world.
Cultural Heritage.
Prishtina has been inhabited for nearly 10,000d years, and for this reason, it has a rich cultural heritage.