Sardinia is the only region in Italy to decline in tourism 2023

Sardinia is the only Italian region to experience a drop in tourist attendance in 2023. The data released today, November 27, by Istat and analyzed by the Communication and Study Center of UniOlbia reveal this.

Against a new national record with 133.6 million arrivals and 447.2 million attendance – exceeding pre-pandemic levels and the peak of 2019 – the island totaled 14,200,536 attendance, down -3.4% compared to 2022 and -6.2% compared to 2019. Of these, 7,382,591 were generated by Italian tourists and 6,817,945 were generated by foreigners.

In its report, Istat explains that Italy beat the previous peak in 2019 (131.4 million arrivals and 436.7 million attendance), with an increase of 12.8% in arrivals (+15.1 million) and 8.5% in attendance (+35.2 million nights).

Sardinia and Gallura: decreasing attendance

In its publication, Istat also analyzed attendance in Italy’s most important brand territories, such as the Amalfi Coast, the Cinque Terre, Versilia and Gallura and the Costa Smeralda. 

Gallura, as UniOlbia analysed, is confirmed as the first Sardinian province for tourist attendance with over 5 million nights, but records negative data: -8.5% compared to 2022 and a worrying -13.4% compared to 2019.

The figures of Istat, for all Italy including Sardinia, refer to hotel and non-hotel accommodations (hotel, B&B, business rental accommodations, residences), but do not include attendance in second homes and yachts, which historically do not fall under Istat surveys.

Attendance in 2024: first signs of flexion

In parallel, today Istat released data for the first nine months of 2024. As mentioned in the analysis published by UniOlbia, tourism in Italy is showing signs of slowing down.

In the third quarter of 2024, which includes July, August and September, attendance fell 1.4% compared to the same period in 2023, down -3.6% in arrivals.

Istat has not made regional attendance data available for 2024.

DOCUMENTS

Istat: tourist attendance 2023
Istat: 2023 tourist attendance in Gallura and brand territories
Istat: tourist attendance 2024