Foreign travellers are confirmed as fundamental to the growth of tourism in Sardinia .
In the "safe" of the Sardinian hospitality and leisure system, thanks to these presences, in 2023 one billion and 667 million euros entered, an increase of 432 million euros (+35%, second increase in Italy) compared to 2022 when visitors from beyond the Alps brought to the Island one billion and 235 million euros.
Spending by foreigners who visited our region grew by 3.2% compared to 2022 .
This is, in a nutshell, what emerges from the dossier of the Research Office of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna , entitled "Towards summer 2024", which has reworked the Istat numbers from the past tourist season.
"With these data we can say that last year was the best ever in terms of the arrival of foreigners and we are certain that in 2024 we will reach the absolute spending record - comments Giacomo Meloni , president of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna - after three very long years, foreign tourism has finally returned to shine by recovering arrivals, presences and spending capacity".
In fact , 48% of the tourist presence in Sardinia is represented by foreigners . The Island is in ninth place in Italy in a national ranking that sees the Autonomous Province of Bolzano in the lead with 70.5%, followed by Veneto with 69.3% and Lazio with 63.7%, against a national average of 52.4%.
Last year, 810 million were spent by foreigners on accommodation, 353 on catering, 200 on shopping, 152 on passenger transport and 150 on other services.
The forecasts for 2024 speak of a further growth of 9 million over the previous year , which should bring the total to 1 billion and 676 million euros, with an impact on the regional GDP of 4.46%. The analysis also says that in 2021 813 million euros entered, in 2020 the millions were 590 while in 2019 1 billion and 108 million arrived. In total, foreign tourism brings almost 52 billion euros to Italy. "It is the demonstration that the appeal of our land is always very strong and that promotion on foreign markets is fundamental - continues Meloni - local tourism demonstrates once again its resilience and ability to be a driving sector for a large part of the economy but we must continue to support it also by offering services increasingly suited to requests".
(Online Union)
