Sardinia, despite being talked about since time immemorial, has not yet discovered the magic formula for deseasonalisation. Once the official bathing season is over, the larger urban centers are crowded and, with "Autunno in Barbagia", the inland towns touched by the event.

But in this case the movements are internal. « More than tourism it is hiking – explains Massimiliano Troncia, president of Federalberghi Nuoro and Ogliastra – and among other things it generates very few overnight stays. Let's be clear, "Autumn in Barbagia" is a nice initiative, it moves people within the region, but it is not a tourist product, it is not a primary travel motivation."

Therefore, blessed be the sporting events, conferences, food and wine, culture and various "experiences", but the island is not yet a land capable of tourism beyond the sea , of recording important numbers if not all of the year (which the climate would allow anyway) for at least nine months.

"Recipe? I believe that the way forward is to negotiate with carriers to have connections with European destinations even in winter – underlines Battelli -. It is not the flights with Bari, Trieste or Palermo that contribute to the "deseasonalisation", it is the foreigners who do it. It is the Region that must intervene. Today, however, at the beginning of November only crumbs remain, air transport is transformed, from international to national, and while in the first case tourists arrive, in the second it is the Sardinians who go out".

Cristina Cossu

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