Tourism, shock prices in Sardinia

Crazy prices for summer 2023 also in Sardinia. According to the latest monitoring by Federconsumatori, a family made up of two adults and two children spends just under 6 thousand euros for a one-week holiday in a seaside resort, with an increase of around 19 percent compared to 2022.

The increases concern all items: transport, hotels, restaurants, rental cars, parking, beach services.

«We have a priceless treasure at our disposal, but we are not competitive in the slightest. The cost of air tickets has quadrupled: based on a study on data from the Skyscanner platform, assuming that you embark on August 12 and return with a flight on the 19th, you can spend 835 euros on the Milan-Olbia route and 819 euros on the Rome route -Olbia – underlines Giorgio Vargiu, regional spokesman of Adiconsum -. Then, god save the tourist who wants to rent a car (and is practically forced if he wants to move, since internal buses and trains are not up to par in the slightest). Again, let's take the Oristano coast for example: a room in a b&b costs between 90 and 110 euros; in a kiosk by the sea, a plate of pasta is also 22 euros; the parking lot near the beach has exorbitant rates, it's a dusty dirt road, it doesn't even have a bathroom, it doesn't have checkpoints, so you risk being robbed. The roads are in very bad condition, the countryside is invaded by waste, the urban decorum of many cities and towns leaves much to be desired".

Fausto Mura, president of Federalberghi Sud Sardegna, explains that «there are price increases, and they are due to the higher costs we have to bear: +40% for food and beverages, +50% for electricity, +50% for industrial laundries . The only stable cost is that of personnel. Reservations are under-dated, but if there's something holding back vacationers, it's the increases in transport. Furthermore, the tourist rightly expects high-level services, which unfortunately are lacking: there are serious shortcomings in terms of medical guards and "security"».

Christine Cossu