It is on all the pages of the newspapers: Italy, land of vacationers and holiday vacationers in costume, no longer goes to the sea. While for some it is the fault of the expensive prices under the umbrella and for others of an absolutely non -competitive country on a tourist level, there are those who press: “They are only controversy, tourism in Italy is great“.
What is the truth? Well, the one dictated by the data: according to the Italian Balneari union (SIB) in July there was, on average, a 15% drop in attendance on the beach, with peaks of 25% in regions such as Emilia-Romagna and Calabria. But it is not better for regions such as Tuscany or Lazio.
A further confirmation in this regard comes from Codacons, which reworked the definitive data of Istat on retail prices: in July the inflation remained stable, while recording an average increase of 1.7% on year. In terms of spending, this percentage is equivalent to 559 euros per year for the “Type” family, 761 for a family unit with two children. It would therefore be confirmed by the sting on the summer holidays of Italians, with all the voices related to travel and tourism that mark very strong increases compared to last year:
Summer 2025 will be salty for Italians, and the confirmation of the very strong increases in prices and rates that are affecting the tourist sector comes from Istat. Up racar that lead an growing slice of citizens to give up on summer holidays, with about one Italian out of 2 (49%) who this year will not grant a holiday between June and September, says President Carlo Rienzi.
The result? About 49 % of Italians renounce holidays between June and September, against 39.5 % in 2019 – almost +10 % more renunciations. While there are those who do not start at all: according to Yougov, one Italian out of 4 will make a real staycation, or holidays at home; 58 % remain in Italy but the costs raise red flag.
In all this, the bathing ones point the finger on “Dear-Vita and weather” and hope for a recovery in this Ferragostan week, while consumers, on the other hand, speak of “dear umbrella” and crazy expenses: a day in super-excluding areas can cost up to € 1,500 per day. And then there are those who choose the mountain.
The investigation of Altroconsumo
To outline a more than clear picture is Altroconsumo: that of the bathing establishments is a sector where there has been no competition for years and the operators who offer the service are always the same. Reason why the prices of sunbeds and umbrellas go up to the stars and a day at the beach becomes a flask.
For a new investigation, Altroconsumo visited 213 bathing establishments on the Italian coasts and detected average increases by 5% compared to last year and 17% compared to 4 years ago.
At the basis of the increases that we monitored is undoubtedly also the situation of poor competition due to the ways in which the seaside concessions are attributed, or the possibility of using (in concession, in fact) the public state property by the managers of the private bathing establishments.
Seaside concessions: a still unresolved knot
Italy boasts about 8,300 kilometers of coast and over 12,000 concessions for private bathing establishments, often in the hands of the operators themselves for decades. The mechanism of assignment of these permits, which allow the economic exploitation of the beaches, needs a profound review: the European Union has been reaffirmed for years.
Recently, the EU Court of Justice has clearly reaffirmed that “The concessions of employment of the Italian beaches cannot be renewed automatically, but must pass through a fair and transparent selection procedure”.
Despite this, the government first extended all concessions until 2024 without any public tender; Subsequently, with the DL Infractions of 17 September 2024, he granted local authorities the opportunity to extend them further until 30 September 2027, only introducing rules for future reassignment.
The result? A blocked system that risks being unchanged for years, despite Brussels’ pressure to finally open the market and guarantee real competition.
Here the complete investigation of Altroconsumo and the petition to be signed.
Sources: Italian Basketball Union / Codacons / Yougov / Altroconsumo
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