“Dear friends managers of bathing establishments ... ”. Alessandro Gassmann does not mince words and, via Instagram, launches his lunge: “I read that the season is not going well. Maybe you’ve gone a bit overboard with prices and the country’s economic situation is pushing Italians to choose a free beach? Lower the prices and things, perhaps, will be better. See how?” Words that have ignited debate in a season that was predicted to be record-breaking and instead, mid-summer, is showing shadows and declining numbers. He is not alone. Striscia la Notizia ’s Salvo Sottile and Pinuccio added to the chorus of criticism about the “expensive umbrella,” with the latter ironically saying, “You broke the c...o: you can’t bring food, you have to pay for everything, and families’ salaries are always that.”
Expectations were high. On July 25, Federalberghi, presenting a survey commissioned from Tecnè, spoke of “Summer that wins”: “36.1 million Italians traveling between June and September, for a turnover of 41.3 billion euros, +1.7 percent compared to 2024.” The association, led by Bernabò Bocca, estimated that 88 percent of vacations would remain in Italy, with Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Sicily, Puglia and Sardinia leading the destinations. On Aug. 1, theConfcommercio-Swg Tourism Observatory indicated that 18 million Italians would leave in August, spending an average of 975 euros per person for a total of 17.6 billion, with 26 percent heading to the sea and 22 percent to the mountains or nature. On June 14, the Florence-based Centro Studi Turistici for Assoturismo-Confesercenti, based on a survey of 1,489 beach businesses, estimated 20.7 million arrivals and more than 110 million presences between June and August, +1.1 percent over 2024, with a marked increase in foreign tourists (+1.8 percent).
But the reality seems to have changed. In an interview with Corriere della Sera on August 8, Bernabò Bocca admitted, “In nine out of ten locations the data are negative.” Antonio Capacchione, president of the Italian Beach Resorts Syndicate (Sib) said on July 31 that “in July the overall reduction was 15 percent, with peaks of 25 percent in Calabria and Emilia-Romagna.” In Abruzzo, Sib regional president Riccardo Padovano said on August 9, as reported by Ansa, that “we are in the most touristic period of the year, but there are no people: we are here counting sheep.” The August 6 Messenger headlines, “Empty beaches, from Lazio to Salento the resorts in crisis (and why): even Riviera and Tuscany far from sold out. For the first time in years, Italians are preferring the mountains to the sea on these vacations.” And the article gives an account of how weekday beach resorts look like “a black-and-white movie seen on TV.” And even Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè on August 7 had to intervene, declaring, “To speak of a tourism crisis in August is alarmist and misleading. Summer is not only about the sea. Italy is at the top of the Mediterranean tourism market, with average prices lower than Greece and Spain,” emphasizing the growth of bookings in June and September.
The price picture comes from newspapers and consumer associations. In its report in Corriere Fiorentino of Aug. 3, it says that in Baratti (Livorno) “a beach umbrella with two sunbeds costs 30 euros, parking 2.40 €/h and a fry 15 euros,” while in Punta Ala (Grosseto) “it goes up to 100 euros for the location alone.” According to an Altroconsumo survey released in early August, the average cost per umbrella and sunbed has increased by 5 percent since 2024 and 17 percent since 2021. Codacons, citing Istat data, reports a +32.7 percent for recreational services since 2019.
The most striking examples come from the news: “Up to 90 euros in Gallipoli” and “120 euros in Sardinia,” writes Il Mattino on August 7; Repubblica Bari, on the same date, reports that in Salento a “frisa gourmet” costs 17 euros, a puccia over 14 euros, and water 3 euros. Also Repubblica Bari mentions Togo Bay in Porto Cesareo, where it goes up to 100 euros for an umbrella and two sunbeds. In the luxury segment, the “imperial tent” at Twiga Beach Club (Marina di Pietrasanta) at 1,500 euros a day; Augustus Hotel (Forte dei Marmi) at 560 euros; Nikki Beach in Costa Smeralda at 550 euros; and Cinque Vele Beach in Pescoluse (Salento) at 470 euros is noted.
The president of Assobalneari Italia, Fabrizio Licordari, in an August 5 note, dismisses the idea of “unapproachable beaches”: "The Italian beach system is diversified, offering solutions for all budgets. To impute the decline only to rates is wrong." But chef Guido Mori, interviewed by Mowmag on Aug. 7, says, “The problem is the Versilia system: boring offer, high prices everywhere. If for a week you spend 800 euros just for the establishment, look to Greece or Indonesia.” Marco Daddio, president of the Lido di Camaiore bathers, in La Nazione on Aug. 6, instead offers the version of beach entrepreneurs: “Those who think we can still cut prices have no idea what it means to keep a tourism business going today. Lowering prices means closing down. As the crisis invests families, it also invests business. Those who do business, in fact, are families.” Daddio points out that “people stay 3-5 days at most, a sign that economic resources are reduced, but the real costs are gasoline, highway, parking, restaurants. The problem is the purchasing power of Italian families and the price increases that have hit everything. Just go shopping to realize this.” According to initial estimates by the Beach Association of Lido di Camaiore, one of Versilia’s municipalities, the drop in July is 20 percent compared to 2024. Here umbrellas can be found for 25-30 euros per day as well as in Maremma.
From Lazio to Puglia, the picture repeats itself. In the Corriere del Mezzogiorno of August 7, it speaks of a “black summer for the lidos: empty during the week and full only on weekends.” Same words for the Tyrrhenian shore: “Campania’s black summer and the flight from the lidos: there is a 15 percent drop. But bathers deny it is the fault of the expensive beach umbrella,” complete with the hashtag #SpiaggeVuote to get a roundup of images. Salvatore Trinchillo (Sib-Confcommercio) speaks of a “stronger than usual” drop even in the top resorts, although he predicts a recovery at the end of the season. At the Quotidiano di Puglia, Fabrizio Santorsola (Fiba-Confesercenti) warns, “Tourists are looking for value, not discounts. And with the extreme heat of July, many have chosen to move their vacations.”
For tourism operators, the middle class that was the target customer base for the bathhouses is missing. According to Fabio Cenni, regional president of Assohotel Confesercenti Toscana, “the operators’ price increases have been there, but they are linked to a generic increase in costs that anyone who shops or pays bills can verify without delay. The real problem is that this increase in prices has not been matched by an increase in the spending power of Italians, who now find themselves poorer and less able to spend on unnecessary purchases, such as a vacation, umbrella or restaurant. We need to restore spending power to Italians, but not just by raising wages, because that would bring other price increases in sectors with a high incidence of the human factor, such as in hospitality and restaurant services, but through a reduction in the tax wedge and in the taxes on employees. This is an action that everyone has been proposing for decades, but no one is implementing.”
On the same wavelength is the general director of Confcommercio Toscana, Franco Marinoni, who brings data from the Centro Studi Confcommercio on the trend of obligatory expenditures in the period 1995-2025 such as housing, energy, utility bills, health care, transportation and insurance, which increasingly affect family budgets. In 2025 they account for 42.2 percent of total spending, up 5.2 from 10 years ago. “Each year, out of an average per capita expenditure of 22,114 euros, as much as 9,343 euros are absorbed by obligated expenses,” Marinoni explains. Leading the way is housing (5,171 euros, +109 euros compared to 2024), then insurance and fuel (2,151 euros) and energy (1,651 euros). In the past ten years, prices of obligatory expenditures have increased by 132 percent, more than twice as much as marketable goods (+55 percent) . “In this context, it is clear that Tuscans and Italians have fewer and fewer resources to devote to free consumption,” Marinoni concludes.
Against the backdrop, a fracture emerges: the traditional model of the permanent beach vacation (where family economy, entrepreneurial strategies and territorial identity coexist) is under pressure. Heat, prices, new habits and the search for different experiences are pushing for a rethink. Certainly the blue sea on the horizon is no longer enough to make the customer pay a little more.
But prices around the tourist/traveler are from high in general, beyond the season: if in front of a plate of linguine with clams on the beach one can twist one’s mouth if the bill is 22 euros but there is a sea view to compensate, worse is if while waiting for departure, as in the Bologna airport, a sandwich can be charged as much as 8.5 euros, a coffee 1.60 and a 75 centiliter bottle of water 3 euros. Happy vacations.
Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.
