Tourists have become a nuisance in many regions. But in Sardinia, the criticism has been limited. The Italian island has proved that tourism can still benefit locals if done the right way.
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00:00A protest march in Mallorca against the growing numbers of tourists and rapidly rising rents,
00:07plus the huge environmental damage caused by cruise ships and sprawling tourist hotels.
00:13As in Barcelona and Venice, people here feel marginalised and say they have zero benefit
00:19from the massive revenues earned by the big hotel chains.
00:24There's also the fear that excessive tourism will destroy what makes their communities
00:29unique.
00:30We've had enough, everything revolves around tourism, our livelihoods are in danger and
00:38we can't find a place to live.
00:41Further east in the Mediterranean, Sardinia shows that there is another way to do things.
00:46The Italian island is home to 1.6 million people, while the number of tourists in 2023
00:53amounted to 7.5 million, a daunting figure, but a manageable one thanks to the local government
00:59working together with restaurant operators, hotels and B&Bs to make tourism more sustainable
01:04and at least more bearable for the island.
01:07It began over 30 years ago when the first concepts emerged for saving water, avoiding
01:12waste and relying on local food and other products.
01:17Everything we serve either comes from our own garden, like vegetables and tomatoes or
01:22is grown locally right here on the island.
01:24It's the same with the meat and fish, we buy local whenever we can with 90% involving
01:30minimal transportation.
01:33The lushly landscaped Forte Village Resort has 1,400 beds across its eight hotels and
01:40dozens of luxury bungalows.
01:43Cars are banned from the complex, the only vehicles here are bicycles and electric buggies.
01:48They're powered by solar panels on the building's roofs because Sardinia is not short of sun.
01:55Leftover food from the restaurants is composted and used for the gardens.
02:00The vacation resort was built over 30 years ago by Lorenzo Giannuzzi, even back then he
02:06was thinking about how to minimise the impact of such a large complex on the local environment.
02:14Take water consumption for example, which adds up to some 1 million litres daily.
02:22Drinking water is scarce in Sardinia too, especially after the heatwave over the previous
02:27few weeks.
02:28The regional government declared a water emergency for some parts of the island.
02:35Lorenzo Giannuzzi had a reservoir built specifically for the hotel many years ago.
02:41The reservoir can contain up to 350,000, so normally during the winter we accumulate enough
02:50water to fully provide and we don't need just to be with the current water.
03:00We just use our reservoir.
03:02So we are self-sufficient.
03:05It's enough to irrigate the trees and gardens too.
03:08Drinking water, says Giannuzzi, is far too valuable a resource for that purpose, whether
03:13it comes from the mains or the reservoir.
03:15Which is why the hotel has its own sewage treatment plant.
03:19It may not look that appetising, but it's certainly appreciated by the environment.
03:25We get the used water and we recycle and we use it for irrigation, for gardening.
03:34So there is a recuperation of 700 cubic metres every day of water.
03:42Well it's vitally important.
03:44I think that, you know, the future we cannot do without that because there is obviously
03:51the temperature increase, the production, the rainy days are less and less.
03:58So I think that it's important not to waste a drop of water.
04:04The island's capital is an hour's drive away.
04:06The charming old town and its range of restaurants make Caligari a tourist magnet, especially
04:12in the summer.
04:14And it's an ideal base for trips to the sea.
04:17Ten years ago, the Sardinian authorities began limiting access to beaches and other popular
04:22destinations in order to protect the island's nature and its image.
04:27The idea is for visitors to keep coming back and not be put off by mass tourism.
04:35It was difficult at the very beginning, it's still difficult nowadays, but there's a different
04:42approach from many of our operators and enterprises to embrace such a philosophy.
04:52Sustainability, again, is saving something for the next visit.
04:59Evidence that the concept is working well can be found in many places.
05:03Hardly any holidaymakers now walk across the dunes that protect the beaches from erosion
05:09due to the signs explaining their function, and of course the threat of substantial fines.
05:14And the flamingos nearby likewise remain undisturbed.
05:20Back at the hotel complex, we meet Marilena Leda.
05:23She shows guests how to make traditional Sardinian pasta specialties by hand using old family
05:30recipes.
05:36It's important to preserve the memory of our traditions and to teach future generations
05:42that these things are part of our life, our history, we have to pass them on.
05:53It's good that we can also show tourists our heritage.
06:02Marilena Leda makes her living from that heritage.
06:05She's also an artist and decorates porcelain dishes using traditional techniques.
06:13She also embroiders clothes and textiles in the Sardinian style together with friends.
06:19Performances in hotels and at festivals, she says, also introduce visitors to Sardinian traditions.
06:30In my opinion, this type of tourism is ideal for us because our particular way of life
06:38plays a role here, and because it enables tourists to integrate and understand what
06:44it means to live in Sardinia.
06:51On a range of factors related to sustainable tourism, Sardinia is already doing better
06:55than other popular tourist destinations around the globe, but the Sardinian Ministry of
07:00Tourism says there's still a lot of work to do.
07:05There's no Planet B, there's no Sardinia B, and the commitment is that of increasing the
07:14areas with a protected nature, just to mention, six are the protected marine areas, two national
07:24marine parks, and three regional parks, so to mean that the territory of Sardinia is
07:31largely protected or at least observed.
07:39And more and more tourists are taking a positive view of efforts to promote sustainable tourism,
07:44one reason alone for many of them to return.