Although Sardinia has lost a lot in terms of airport offer in the last three years, when compared to other competitors such as the Balearic Islands, Croatia, Crete, Cyprus, Corsica, the Algarve and Sicily, and even if it has recorded particular increases, the island confirmation among the most convenient destinations for international tourists in terms of travel costs.
The data emerges from the booking simulation carried out by Cna Sardegna .
After the recovery in 2021, explains the Study Center, this year there has been a sharp drop in the combinations available to reach the island from the main European airports , a circumstance which has been added to a significant increase in fares. An element that has certainly not favored the recovery of international tourism which, despite the positive data on attendance and arrivals in 2022, has remained well below the pre-health crisis levels.
In 2023, the reduction in costs incurred by the companies (fuel and airport services) contributed to lowering the average cost to reach Sardinia, but ticket prices remain high and the number of flights continues to fall.
For Cna, compared to 2022, the airport offer has collapsed by -14% : in four years almost 3 thousand combinations have been lost, going from 7,875 identified at the end of May 2019 to 4,878 in May 2023 (-38%). For Croatia , the decrease measured was just -2.8%, -4.6% for Sicily , -7% for Crete; in practice, only the Balearic Islands (-17%) and Cyprus (-17.6%) did worse than Sardinia. However, the island is confirmed as one of the regions where it costs less to arrive : around 1,100 euros round trip for a trip from central-northern Europe for a typical family of 4 people around mid-August (in 2021 641 euros was enough, almost the goal).
A figure to be compared with the 1,268 euros of Croatia and the Algarve, the 1,400 of Sicily, the 1,600 of Corsica or the 1,900 of Crete; only the Balearics do better than Sardinia, with just 788 euros.
