Two years of war in Ukraine have caused Sardinian exports to collapse, which have lost 24 million euros, and Russian tourism to the island, which has decreased by 80 thousand units .
According to the findings of the Confartigianato Sardegna Research Office in these 24 months the exports of small businesses on the island - food, clothing, leather goods, machinery and equipment, textiles, furniture, wood and cork, printed materials but also chemical products and refining - fell by 24 million: 22 towards Russia, 2 towards Ukraine .
It is just one of the many consequences of the conflict, which also had negative effects on 30 thousand Sardinian companies and 95 thousand employees, due to the rise in prices of raw materials : energy, fuel, wheat and aluminium.
Then there is the negative effect on tourism: since 2022, explains Confartigianato, 80 thousand Russians have literally "disappeared" from hotels, airports, restaurants and beaches in Sardinia . We are talking about around 400 thousand fewer presences in the Italian region where the spending of Russian tourists, in relation to the local economy, was higher.
Compared to two years ago, underline the president and secretary of Confartigianato Sardegna Fabio Mereu and Daniele Serra, «Sardinian companies are absorbing the shock and the energy price bubble is slowly deflating» .
«We cannot do much about international crises – they explain – but it is necessary to equip ourselves to have alternative solutions. A turning point is needed in environmental and energy policies to reduce the costs borne by Sardinian companies which, in the last year, have spent 60% more on electricity and 31.7% more on gas compared to the average of competitor of the Eurozone ".
(Unioneonline/L)