The Asian tiger mosquito is native to Southeast Asia, but in the last three decades, it has been introduced to many parts of the world, including Europe, thanks to global freight transport and tourism that allowed the species’ passive expansion and contributed to its invasion. The eggs of this species can tolerate cold and drought, thus the species can reach great distances by the transport of used tires and plants (e.g. in the container of lucky bamboos), the latter played the main role in the species’ emergence in Belgium, the Netherlands, and California. Although Aedes albopictus was first reported in Europe in 1979, public or private transport from heavily infested areas has also resulted in the passive transportation of the species into new areas. By the time of its first detection in Italy, it has spread to almost the entire country in areas below 600 m a.s.l. and Italy had become the most infected country in Europe. Passive transport from heavily infested areas, like Italy, via ground vehicles, is believed to be the route of introduction of Ae. albopictus e.g. into southern France, Germany, the Balkans, the Czech Republic, Spain, and Switzerland. . Albania. As a result of the tiger mosquito’s rapid dispersion, the species was  reported from France and Belgium in 1999 and 2000 respectively, and since then its presence was verified in many other European countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Romania, , San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, , Turkey, and the Vatican have also reported its emergence. However, the appearance does not necessarily mean the establishment of the species everywhere, the main limiting factor is the cold winter,  thus in the Netherlands, for example, it can overwinter in greenhouses only. In Hungary, it was first reported in 2014 near Baja, then in the following years, it was catched several times near the southwestern border, but its range continued to expand.