Selected References and Evidence Base

The paper draws primarily on official Regional Government, environmental-agency, statistical and European sources. It should be read as a strategic framework rather than a statutory plan; before formal adoption, all data, baselines, targets and legal references should be validated with the relevant regional departments, municipalities, utilities and site-management authorities.

Regional tourism and policy

1. Autonomous Region of Sardinia, Department of Tourism, Crafts and Commerce. Piano Strategico Regionale del Turismo 2023–2025. Adopted through Regional Government Resolution No. 47/2 of 29 December 2023 and definitively approved by Resolution No. 6/6 of 23 February 2024.[files.regione.sardegna][delibere.regione.sardegna]
2. Osservatorio del Turismo della Sardegna. Movimento turistico in Sardegna: Anno 2024, con confronto 2023. Source: SIRED/ROSS1000. The 2024 monitoring reported 4,441,322 arrivals, 18,860,976 overnight stays and an average stay of 4.25 nights.[unionesarda]
3. Osservatorio del Turismo della Sardegna. Open Data: Movimenti turistici 2024. Monthly arrivals and overnight stays are available by municipality, reference market and macro-category, providing an essential basis for local destination monitoring.[osservatorio.sardegnaturismo]
4. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. Settore Osservatorio, Ricerca e Sviluppo. Institutional remit covering the tourism-observatory portal, data management, analysis and reporting.[regione.sardegna]
5. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. Capacità ricettiva della Sardegna: Anno 2024. Source: SIRED/ROSS1000.[osservatorio.sardegnaturismo]

Environment, climate and resilience

1. Autonomous Region of Sardinia. Strategia Regionale di Adattamento ai Cambiamenti Climatici. First adopted in February 2019; the strategy uses climate scenarios to 2050 and forms part of the regional sustainable-development framework.[regione.sardegna]
2. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. Strategia Regionale di Adattamento ai Cambiamenti Climatici: update 2024. The updated framework includes climate-hazard maps, location-specific indicators and climate-impact-chain analysis.[regione.sardegna]
3. ARPAS. Rapporto Meteo e Clima 2025. The report identifies persistent temperature anomalies above the 1981–2010 average, increasingly irregular rainfall and rising sea-level conditions affecting Sardinia.[regione.sardegna]
4. Sardegna SIRA / ARPAS. Cambiamenti climatici in Sardegna. Regional climate projections indicate higher average and extreme temperatures, a general reduction in precipitation and increased exposure to extreme events.[portal.sardegnasira][portal.sardegnasira]
5. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. Erosione costiera. Regional coastal-erosion policy and investment framework, including a €7.175 million allocation for related interventions.[regione.sardegna]
6. Sardegna SIRA. Erosione costiera. Technical information on the sensitivity of beaches and rocky coasts to changes in environmental and coastal dynamics.[portal.sardegnasira]

Water, waste and circularity

1. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna / relevant basin and water authorities. Reservoir and drought-status data should be used to establish destination-specific water-resilience baselines. The figures cited in the paper should be independently validated at basin and municipal scale before formal target setting.
2. ISPRA. Tourism: Environmental Indicators. The national tourism-waste indicator demonstrates the importance of accounting for visitors in equivalent-population calculations and service planning. In 2024, the indicator reached 16.2 kg per equivalent inhabitant.[indicatoriambientali.isprambiente]
3. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. 26° Rapporto sulla gestione dei rifiuti urbani in Sardegna: Anno 2024. Sardinia generated 731,075 tonnes of urban waste in 2024; separately collected fractions totalled 559,094 tonnes.[sardegnaambiente][sardegnaambiente]
4. Sardegna SIRA / Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. Raccolta differenziata in Sardegna nell’anno 2024. Regional separate collection reached 76.48% in 2024.[portal.sardegnasira]

Nature, protected areas and inclusion

1. Sardegna SIRA. SIC, ZSC e ZPS. Sardinia’s Natura 2000 system contains 128 terrestrial and marine sites, including 89 Special Areas of Conservation, eight Sites of Community Importance and 31 Special Protection Areas.[portal.sardegnasira]
2. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. Misure di conservazione per ZSC e SIC della Rete Natura 2000. In March 2025, conservation measures were approved for 89 ZSCs and four SICs.[regione.sardegna]
3. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. L’Isola che accoglie: Turismo accessibile e inclusivo in Sardegna. Regional programme for accessible and inclusive tourism, supported through national inclusion funding.[regione.sardegna][regione.sardegna]
4. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. Linee guida per il turismo inclusivo, PR Sardegna FESR 2021–2027. Guidance covering interventions including accessible visitor facilities, decompression areas and inclusive public-space design.[files.regione.sardegna]
5. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. Progetti di turismo inclusivo e accessibile. A €14 million programme involving 18 municipalities and the Urban Authorities of Iglesias and Olbia.[regione.sardegna]

Economy, workforce and investment

1. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna / Centro Regionale di Programmazione. PR Sardegna FESR 2021–2027. Regional European Regional Development Fund programme, with an overall allocation of around €1.58 billion.[old.sardegnaprogrammazione][cmsras.regione.sardegna]
2. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. PR Sardegna FESR 2021–2027: Contratti di Investimento, tipologia Turistico-Ricettivo. Investment-call framework for tourism-accommodation proposals.[regione.sardegna]
3. OECD. Rethinking Regional Attractiveness in the Italian Region of Sardinia. OECD, 2025. Assessment of regional attractiveness, infrastructure, territorial inequalities, demographic trends and pathways to attract visitors, talent and investment.[oecd]
4. EURES. Labour Market Information: Italy. European Employment Services information on labour-market conditions and skills requirements, including tourism and hospitality.[eures.europa]
5. Mele, E. and colleagues. Seasonal Work in the Italian Tourism Industry: A Systematic Review. Evidence on seasonality, workforce characteristics and training challenges in Italian tourism.[oaj.fupress]

International frameworks

1. European Commission. Transition Pathway for Tourism. EU framework to support a green and digital transition, competitiveness and resilience in the tourism ecosystem.[single-market-economy.ec.europa][single-market-economy.ec.europa]
2. European Commission. Overview of EU Tourism Policy / EU Agenda for Tourism 2030. Framework addressing green transition, digital transition, resilience and inclusion, skills and enabling governance.[transport.ec.europa]
3. Global Sustainable Tourism Council. GSTC Destination Standard / GSTC Destination Criteria. International framework for sustainable destination management, socioeconomic benefit, cultural protection and environmental stewardship.[gstc][gstc][gstc]

Data limitations

Several indicators proposed in this paper—particularly water use per guest-night, tourism-attributable wastewater load, visitor-adjusted waste generation, local spending retention, workforce housing pressure, site-specific ecological carrying capacity and resident sentiment—are not consistently available across Sardinia in a standardised form.

Their absence should not delay action. Instead, it should guide the first implementation phase:

• Establish consistent definitions and collection methods.
• Build baselines before fixing numerical targets.
• Publish methodology and known limitations.
• Disaggregate indicators by season and destination where feasible.
• Combine administrative datasets with business reporting, environmental monitoring and resident or worker surveys.
• Review targets annually as evidence improves.

The most important operational principle is straightforward: measure what matters, publish what is known, and improve the evidence base where it is weak.