4. Make Climate Resilience a Core Tourism Standard
Tourism in Sardinia depends on climate-sensitive assets: beaches, coastal landscapes, water availability, thermal comfort, biodiversity, roads, ports and outdoor recreation. The destination strategy should therefore treat adaptation not as a separate environmental topic, but as a condition for the long-term quality, safety and investability of tourism.
Climate projections for Sardinia indicate higher average and extreme temperatures, lower annual precipitation overall, and more frequent extreme weather events. ARPAS reports that 2025 again showed temperatures persistently above the 1981–2010 climatic average, increasingly irregular rainfall and rising sea levels; the measured sea-level anomaly along Sardinian coasts was about +27 cm relative to the national reference level, with approximately 8 cm of increase over the preceding 25 years.[portal.sardegnasira][portal.sardegnasira][regione.sardegna]
Problem
The most valuable tourism assets are also exposed to interacting climate risks:
- Heatwaves can reduce visitor comfort, affect workers, raise cooling demand and increase health risks.
- Drought can restrict water supply, intensify competition among users and affect landscapes, agriculture and ecosystems.
- Wildfires can threaten lives, accommodation, roads, protected areas and destination reputation.
- Heavy rainfall and flooding can disrupt transport, damage infrastructure and create public-safety risks.
- Sea-level rise, storm surges and erosion can degrade beaches, dunes, coastal paths, heritage assets and tourism facilities.
- Marine heat and ecosystem change can affect water quality, biodiversity and the perceived quality of coastal and marine experiences.
A destination that responds only after disruption occurs will incur higher costs and may gradually lose the natural assets on which visitor demand depends.
Destination implication
Climate resilience must become part of tourism decision-making at three levels:
- Place: determine where tourism growth, infrastructure and visitor concentration can be safely supported.
- Business: help accommodation, food-service, activity and transport operators prepare for heat, drought, wildfire and extreme weather.
- Visitor: provide reliable risk information, practical guidance and alternatives when conditions make particular places unsafe or unsuitable.
This approach supports safety and environmental protection while also helping extend the season. Spring, autumn and inland experiences may become increasingly important for dispersing demand away from the hottest periods and most exposed coastal zones.
Proposed direction
Create a Climate-Resilient Tourism Standard that is embedded in destination planning, public investment, licensing and tourism-business support.
Priority measures should include:
- Climate-risk screening for tourism infrastructure, major events, accommodation developments and destination-management plans.
- Site-specific adaptation plans for priority coastal areas, islands, protected areas and high-risk inland locations.
- Heat-action protocols for visitors and workers, including shade, drinking-water access, cool spaces, adjusted activity schedules and multilingual health advice.
- Seasonal wildfire-readiness requirements for tourism businesses, campsites, rural accommodation, outdoor operators and event organisers.
- Nature-based coastal adaptation, prioritising dunes, wetlands, vegetation, setback policies and managed access before hard-engineering solutions.
- Climate-resilient design standards for accommodation, public realm, trails, beaches, marinas and transport facilities.
- Emergency information systems that communicate closures, route changes, fire alerts, heat warnings and safe alternatives promptly and consistently.
- Business-continuity guidance, insurance literacy and adaptation finance for small and medium-sized tourism enterprises.
- Tourism-demand and climate-data integration, enabling destinations to identify when peak visitor pressure overlaps with extreme heat, drought or fire risk.
Policy alignment
Sardinia already has a strong institutional basis for this work. The Regional Climate Change Adaptation Strategy was adopted in 2019 and updated in 2024 with hazard maps, site-specific indicators and impact-chain analysis. Its implementation structure includes priority workstreams on civil-protection planning, coastal adaptation, integrated water management, climate finance and climate services for decision-making.[regione.sardegna]
Coastal adaptation is particularly relevant to the tourism economy. The Region has identified coastal erosion as a major environmental challenge and has allocated €7.175 million for related interventions within its 2024–2029 regional development framework. The strategic task is to ensure that tourism investment, access management and coastal development reinforce—not undermine—this adaptation effort.[regione.sardegna]
Relevant stakeholders
Regional Department for Environmental Protection; ARPAS; Civil Protection Directorate; Forestry Corps; Regional Department of Tourism; coastal municipalities; protected-area and marine-protected-area authorities; harbour and marina managers; accommodation and campsite operators; tour guides and outdoor-activity providers; transport operators; health authorities; universities and climate-service providers; insurers; local communities.
Possible indicators
| Indicator | Suggested measurement |
|---|---|
| Risk-informed planning | Share of destination plans and major tourism investments subject to climate-risk screening |
| Heat resilience | Number of public cooling, shade and drinking-water facilities in priority visitor areas |
| Wildfire readiness | Share of tourism businesses in high-risk zones with tested emergency and evacuation plans |
| Coastal resilience | Dune condition, beach-width trends, erosion hotspots and extent of restored coastal habitat |
| Visitor safety | Number of climate-related closures, incidents, disruptions and emergency-response times |
| Business preparedness | Share of tourism enterprises with adaptation, continuity and insurance plans |
| Climate communication | Reach and use of multilingual heat, wildfire, flood and coastal-risk information |
| Nature-based adaptation | Area of wetlands, dunes, vegetation and permeable public space restored or protected |
Delivery horizon
Immediate, with long-term implementation. Begin by mapping tourism-critical assets against heat, drought, wildfire, flood and coastal-risk exposure. Apply the standard first to public investment, new developments and the highest-risk destinations, then extend it through grants, certification and business-support programmes.