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Top-price Sun, Sea and Parasols at One in Four Bathing Establishments

Vacation expenses on the rise: average beach prices stable but number of exclusive establishments growing

ROME – The elite Paraggi di Portofino beach can cost up to 40 euros a day. On the coast due to receive the world’s longest bridge, in Messina, just seven euros. In both these resorts, hiring a parasol and two sunbeds this year costs two euros more than it did last summer. But beach prices are not out of control everywhere. On average, the cost of hiring the basic minimum this year costs 40 eurocents more than it did in 2003. These are the figures that have emerged from the annual survey of bathing establishments carried out by the weekly Il Salvagente, together with the Irisme Consulting institute. The survey covers all fifteen coastal regions of Italy, with 47 provinces and over 100 seaside resorts, in each of which the rates and services of three to five establishments have been registered.

BLUE FLAGS – More blue flags on high point to a cleaner sea around Italy, but prices are going up too and seaside vacations are going to set tourists back around 24 billion euros this year. About 18 million Italians will be heading for the beaches at least once, and 10 million of these will make use of bathing establishments. Only 6 million will stay on the coast for more than a couple of days. 5 million are expected from abroad.
There is a certain degree of stability in the prices of “average” establishments, where a parasol and two sun-beds costs between 10 and 20 euros. They account for 72.4% of the total, against 72.8% in 2003.

“Elitist” beaches (20 to 40 euros) are up from 9.9% to 23.4%. “Popular” beaches (less than 10 euros) tumble dramatically from 14.9% to 4.2%. In other words, the Italians are going to find it that much harder to find moderately priced beaches.

COSTLY SUN-BEDS – On average, a parasol and two sun-beds costs 23 euros (+2.7%) in the low season, 15.9 (+2.4%) in the high. The greatest variations are out of season in the north (+8.3%) and in season in the south and on the islands (+3.8%). A monthly ticket costs 243 euros on average out of season (+3.3%) and 295 euros in (+3.1%). The increases are greatest in the north, both in the low season (+3.2%) and in the high (+5.3%).

Liguria is once again the most expensive in the high season: 23.5 euros a day for parasol and sun-bed. But the greatest hike is in Sicily: +11.1%. Calabria is the cheapest region for a monthly subscription: 210 euros, against 500 in Liguria. The most sizeable variation is in Friuli Venezia Giulia: +11.1%.

Portofino takes top spot as the most expensive locality (40 euros for a parasol and two sun-beds in the high season), followed by Lerici, Capri and Sanremo. With the sole exception of Capri, the top ten most expensive are all in Liguria. The cheapest is Messina (7 euros), followed by Porto Empedocle: both in Sicily, like many other resorts in the “bottom ten”.
The number of establishments that allow pets is up 6.8%. 70.9% of beaches offer a play area for children, 17% have a discotheque, 51.6% rent pedal boats, 7.5% water scooters, and 39.2% have a beach-volley court.

Antonella Baccaro http://www.corriere.it