Tourism drives Sardinia's economy, and it is certainly nothing new. In 2023, the island's accommodation facilities returned to recording numbers higher than those of the pre-Covid period: 15.7 million presences, half a million more than in 2019, 6.7% more than the pre-pandemic period and 7, 7% more than in 2022 . And the figures for the first quarter of 2024 show a further improvement compared to those of 2023.
These are the data provided by a dossier from the Cna Sardinia Study Center. And residential tourism of second homes, holiday homes and B&Bs managed in a non-entrepreneurial manner must be added to the official numbers. The growth of foreign tourists was enormous: +13% both in terms of arrivals and in terms of presences , approximately 14.1 million foreign presences were recorded according to estimates by the Bank of Italy.
If we examine the general picture and the numbers of the "rivals" of the Mediterranean area (Crete, Algarve, Puglia, Corsica, Croatia, Malta, Sicily, Balearics, Calabria and Cyprus), Sardinia in 2022 recorded 5.6 % of arrivals and 5.1% of total presences in these regions.
There is the other side of the coin, the rest of Italy has grown more. So much so that the island has lost two positions in the national ranking in terms of annual attendance compared to 2019, surpassed by Liguria in Sicily . Furthermore, in the last two years, tourism growth has been lower than that of other similar regions such as Puglia and Sicily but also compared to Abruzzo .
More can be done: «Tourism in Sardinia has great unexpressed potential and there is an enormous work space still to be filled, comment Luigi Tomasi and Francesco Porcu, respectively president and regional secretary of Cna Sardinia - it is a question of overcoming the international image strongly characterized and centered on the stereotype of the seaside holiday which probably represents one of the limits of Sardinia's offer model which, not surprisingly, concentrates the flows of travelers in the few summer months".
Based on a study carried out in 2017 by the Cna, the island can become more competitive in the fields of health and well-being, but also in historical-archaeological and sports tourism.
(Unioneonline/L)