Mandatory reservations, ban on towels: Italy imposes strict measures for beach tourists

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Blue water, hot temperatures and lots of ice: Tourists from all over the world are currently looking forward to their holidays in Italy. But hard rules may now throw a spanner in the works: Italian tourist destinations have imposed an upper limit on beachgoers, mandatory reservations and a ban on beach towels.

Especially the popular island of Sardinia faces major problems every summer. Polluted beach promenades make life difficult for the local population. Now the authorities have responded.

Visit to the beach must be booked 72 hours in advance via the app

The mayor of Baunei, a small village in a remote area of ​​eastern Sardinia, told CNN: “Our island is mostly jagged cliffs, with only a dozen beaches, so everyone comes there and overcrowded.”

A total of four beaches on the island fall under the visitor limit. Both Cala dei Gabbiani and Cala Biriala now have a daily limit of 300 visitors. Cala Goloritze is limited to 250 visitors per day and Cala Mariolu, the largest beach in the region, introduced a maximum of 700 visitors.

Explosive: Sun worshipers must reserve their spot on all of these beaches at least 72 hours before their visit via an app called “Cuore di Sardegna” (The Heart of Sardinia). The coastal area of ​​Baunei welcomes about 300,000 tourists every summer.

“We lost so much sand because of the beach towels”

The beach “La Pelosa” on the north coast of Sardinia is one labyrinth of beach towels and air mattresses during the high season. The responsible mayor, Rita Vallebella, tells CNN: “We have limited the number of tourists to 1500 per day, the ticket costs 3.50 euros.” Bookings and payments can be made through an authorized website.

Explosive: a beach towel ban was even imposed. “We only allow mats. Unlike towels that get wet, the sand does not stick to the mats. We lost so much sand because of the beach towels,” explains Vallebella.

Additional entrance fees are charged on selected beaches in Sardinia and Lampedusa. This fee is intended to fund supervision, a parking space and the maintenance of paths and toilets on beaches. (A)

Source: Blick