Guide-Explorer respects the privacy of visitors to Guide-Explorer.com. This Privacy Policy explains what information may be processed when you browse the website or contact us by email, why that information may be used, how long it may be retained, and the choices and rights available to you.
Guide-Explorer is an independent informational travel website featuring articles about destinations, food and drink, attractions, activities, accommodations, transportation, shopping, itineraries, and other travel-related subjects.
Data Controller
For the purposes of applicable data-protection law, the operator responsible for determining how personal information is processed through Guide-Explorer.com is:
Website: Guide-Explorer.com
Privacy email: info@guide-explorer.com
“Guide-Explorer,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the website operator identified above.
Information You Can Access Without Providing Personal Details
You do not need to create an account, register a profile, subscribe to a newsletter, or provide payment information to read the content published on Guide-Explorer.
Guide-Explorer does not currently operate:
- User accounts or memberships
- Profile-registration forms
- Newsletter-subscription forms
- Website contact forms
- Online booking or payment systems
- Comment-submission forms
Visitors can access the main website content without directly submitting their name, home address, telephone number, identification documents, payment information, or login credentials.
Information Processed Automatically
When you visit Guide-Explorer, limited technical information may be processed automatically by the website, its hosting provider, security systems, analytics services, or other technical providers.
This information may include:
- IP address
- Browser type and version
- Device type
- Operating system
- Screen size or display characteristics
- Requested pages and files
- Date and time of a request
- Referring website or traffic source
- General geographic area derived from an IP address
- Internal website search terms
- Error records
- Security and access logs
- General interactions with pages and links
- Cookie or similar pseudonymous identifiers
This information may be processed to deliver the website, maintain security, detect abuse, diagnose technical problems, understand general website use, and improve content and performance.
Server Logs and Website Security
The website’s hosting and technical infrastructure may automatically create server logs when visitors request pages or other website resources.
These logs may contain an IP address, request time, requested page, browser information, response status, and other limited technical details.
Server-log information may be used to:
- Deliver requested website content
- Maintain the security and stability of the website
- Detect malicious traffic, unauthorized access, or abuse
- Investigate technical faults
- Prevent fraud and automated attacks
- Protect the website and its visitors
- Comply with applicable legal obligations
Server logs are retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for security, troubleshooting, hosting, and legal purposes. The exact period may depend on the settings and retention practices of the website’s hosting and technical providers.
Google Analytics
Guide-Explorer uses Google Analytics to understand how visitors interact with the website and its content.
When analytics is enabled following the visitor’s cookie choice, the information processed may include:
- Website sessions and page views
- Approximate session duration
- General traffic sources
- Approximate country or geographic area
- Device category
- Operating system
- Browser type
- Screen size
- Page and link interactions
- Pseudonymous identifiers generated through cookies or similar technologies
Guide-Explorer uses this information to produce general reports about website activity. These reports help us understand which pages and topics receive interest, how visitors find the website, how the website performs on different devices, and where editorial or technical improvements may be needed.
Guide-Explorer does not use Google Analytics reports to identify visitors by name, create individual customer profiles, send direct marketing emails, or operate a subscription service.
Cookies and Similar Technologies
Cookies are small text files that a website may store on a visitor’s device. Similar technologies, including browser storage, may also be used to remember preferences or support website functions.
Guide-Explorer may use the following categories of technology:
Necessary Technologies
Necessary cookies or storage records may be used to remember cookie-consent choices, maintain security, prevent abuse, or support essential website functionality.
These technologies are not used for advertising or behavioral profiling.
Analytics Cookies
If you consent to analytics, Google Analytics may place or access cookies or similar identifiers used to distinguish browser sessions and measure general website use.
Google Analytics cookies may include:
_ga_ga_<measurement-id>
The exact names and duration of analytics cookies may vary according to the website’s Analytics configuration, browser restrictions, Google’s technical changes, and the visitor’s own settings.
Cookie Consent and Preferences
Where consent is required, analytics cookies should not be activated until the visitor accepts them through the website’s cookie-consent controls.
Visitors may be able to:
- Accept analytics cookies
- Reject analytics cookies
- Continue browsing without nonessential analytics cookies
- Change their preferences later
- Withdraw previously provided consent
Rejecting analytics cookies does not prevent visitors from reading articles or accessing the main content on Guide-Explorer.
A necessary cookie or browser-storage record may be used to remember whether analytics cookies were accepted or rejected. Removing browser cookies or stored website data may also remove the saved preference, which may cause the cookie notice to appear again.
Visitors may additionally manage or delete cookies through their browser settings.
Contact by Email
Guide-Explorer does not provide a contact form on the website.
Visitors may voluntarily contact Guide-Explorer by sending an email to:
When you send us an email, we may process:
- Your email address
- Your name, when included
- Your organization or business name, when included
- The subject and contents of your message
- Any information included in your email signature
- Any files or attachments you voluntarily provide
- Technical information included in the email
- Our correspondence with you
We may use this information to:
- Read, assess, and respond to your inquiry
- Review correction or update requests
- Respond to business or advertising inquiries
- Investigate technical reports
- Manage ongoing correspondence
- Protect our legitimate interests
- Establish, exercise, or defend legal claims
- Comply with legal obligations
Please do not send sensitive personal information unless it is genuinely necessary for your request.
Guide-Explorer does not add people who contact us by email to a marketing list or newsletter unless a separate and explicit arrangement is introduced and the required consent is obtained.
Legal Bases for Processing
Depending on the information and the circumstances, Guide-Explorer may rely on one or more of the following legal bases:
Consent
Consent may be used before activating nonessential analytics cookies or similar technologies where consent is legally required.
You may withdraw consent through the available cookie controls. Withdrawal does not affect processing that lawfully occurred before consent was withdrawn.
Legitimate Interests
Limited technical information may be processed where reasonably necessary to operate, secure, maintain, and improve the website.
Email correspondence may also be processed where necessary to respond to messages, maintain relevant records, prevent abuse, protect the website, or manage legitimate business communications.
Steps Taken at Your Request
Information contained in an email may be processed when you ask Guide-Explorer to answer an inquiry, consider a proposal, review a correction, or take another action before entering into a possible arrangement.
Legal Obligations
Information may be processed or retained when required to comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, regulatory obligations, or legal proceedings.
How We Use Information
Information processed through Guide-Explorer may be used to:
- Operate and deliver the website
- Maintain website security
- Detect and prevent malicious or abusive activity
- Diagnose and resolve technical problems
- Measure general website performance
- Understand aggregated visitor behavior
- Improve website organization and navigation
- Develop and update editorial content
- Respond to emails and inquiries
- Review correction requests
- Maintain necessary business records
- Protect legal rights and interests
- Comply with applicable legal obligations
Guide-Explorer does not sell or rent visitors’ personal information.
Service Providers and Recipients
Guide-Explorer may use third-party providers to support the operation of the website.
Depending on the services being used, information may be processed by categories of providers such as:
- Website-hosting providers
- Domain and infrastructure providers
- Security and performance providers
- Email-hosting providers
- Analytics providers
- Website-maintenance providers
- Professional advisers
- Public authorities when disclosure is legally required
These providers may process information only to the extent necessary to provide their services, protect their systems, comply with applicable obligations, or act under their own lawful terms.
Google provides the Google Analytics service. When analytics is enabled, browser and technical information may be transmitted to Google so that Analytics reports can be generated.
Data Retention
Guide-Explorer retains information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
Google Analytics
Guide-Explorer’s Google Analytics configuration should retain user-level and event-level data for no longer than 14 months. A shorter retention period may apply depending on the Analytics property settings or Google’s technical rules.
This retention setting does not necessarily apply in the same way to aggregated statistics shown in standard Analytics reports.
Email Correspondence
Emails are retained only for as long as reasonably necessary to respond to the communication, manage relevant follow-up, maintain required records, resolve disputes, protect legal interests, or comply with applicable obligations.
Routine messages that are no longer needed may be deleted.
Technical and Security Logs
Technical and security logs are retained for the period reasonably required for hosting, cybersecurity, troubleshooting, abuse prevention, and legal compliance. Retention may also depend on the practices of the relevant hosting or technical provider.
Cookie Preferences
Records of cookie choices may be retained for as long as necessary to remember the visitor’s preferences and demonstrate the consent choice that was made.
International Data Processing
Some providers used by Guide-Explorer, including Google, may operate infrastructure or process information in multiple countries.
As a result, information may be processed outside Albania or outside the country where a visitor is located.
Where required, international processing should take place under appropriate legal, contractual, organizational, or technical safeguards applied by Guide-Explorer or the relevant service provider.
The protections available may depend on the destination country, the provider involved, and the applicable data-protection rules.
External Websites and Map Links
Guide-Explorer articles may include links to Google Maps, official authorities, transportation providers, booking platforms, businesses, or other external websites and services.
When you follow an external link, the third-party website may collect or process information under its own Privacy Policy, cookie rules, and terms.
Guide-Explorer does not control the privacy practices, security, content, or data processing of independent third-party websites.
Visitors should review the privacy information provided by any external service before submitting personal information, creating an account, or completing a transaction.
Data Security
Guide-Explorer takes reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect the website and the information processed through it.
These measures may include access restrictions, software updates, hosting security, password protection, traffic monitoring, backups, and other safeguards appropriate to the website’s operation.
However, no website, email system, storage service, or internet transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
Visitors should take reasonable precautions when using the internet and should avoid sending unnecessary sensitive information by email.
Your Privacy Rights
Depending on the data-protection laws that apply to you, you may have the right to:
- Ask whether your personal information is being processed
- Request access to relevant personal information
- Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
- Request deletion where legally applicable
- Request restriction of certain processing
- Object to processing based on legitimate interests
- Withdraw consent for analytics cookies
- Request data portability where applicable
- Receive information about relevant recipients
- Submit a complaint to a competent data-protection authority
- Exercise other rights provided by applicable law
Some rights are subject to legal limitations and may not apply in every circumstance.
Because Guide-Explorer does not operate user accounts and analytics information is generally associated with pseudonymous browser identifiers, it may not always be technically possible to connect an Analytics record with a particular individual without additional information.
Privacy requests may be sent to:
We may request limited information necessary to verify the request and locate the relevant information. Requests will be considered within the time limits required by applicable law.
Complaints
You may contact Guide-Explorer first if you have a concern about how your personal information is processed.
You may also have the right to complain to the data-protection authority responsible for your country or place of residence.
The competent supervisory authority in Albania is the:
Commissioner for the Right to Information and Protection of Personal Data
Children’s Privacy
Guide-Explorer provides general informational travel content and is not directed toward collecting personal information from children.
The website does not ask children or other visitors to create profiles, provide payment details, or register accounts.
If a parent or guardian believes that a child has sent personal information to Guide-Explorer by email, they may contact us at info@guide-explorer.com to request that the information be reviewed or deleted where appropriate.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
Guide-Explorer may update this Privacy Policy when the website, its technical services, Analytics configuration, communication practices, or applicable legal requirements change.
The revised policy will be published on this page with an updated revision date.
When a change materially affects the use of nonessential cookies or consent-based processing, visitors may be asked to review or renew their preferences.
Contact Information
Questions, concerns, or requests relating to privacy, cookies, or personal information may be sent to:
Website: Guide-Explorer.com
Email: info@guide-explorer.com