The mainstream media or disinformation has targeted the world of beach clubs. Reading the newspapers or, even worse, scrolling through social media posts, there’s a lockdown-like atmosphere on Italian beaches that’s frightening: empty beaches, failed season, fierce comments against those “thieves” – the beach operators who have ruined Italy by raising prices beyond measure and who pay nothing to the State. This is the message that gets through, unfortunately.

We at italianbeach.club have been touring beaches since mid-May at the start of the season, and we’ve formed our own opinions on the matter – we don’t identify with this simplistic analysis at all. Neither does the person who posed for our opening photo, Daniele Conte, manager of Vittoria Beach in Finale Ligure, whom we met on Friday, August 8th, and whose establishment was “fully booked” according to the sign. Good for him, naturally. But how are things really? As Conte says, as Alessandro Gassmann insinuates – notably an expert on beach matters, with various publications to his credit – or in some other way? While keeping in mind that the final accounts are done at the end, from our observatory we can observe a few things.

1. Empty beaches may appear empty, but often they’re not. For those who think they are, we’ll reveal a word that’s mysterious to them but not to beach club managers. This word is “season pass holders“. We’re referring to subscribers for the entire season, the blessing and curse of beach clubs because most of the time they’re not present on the beach, but when they arrive they must find their paid spot available; a curse because when they do come they tend not to consume much and because they don’t like seeing new faces, a bit like those who frequent the neighborhood bar and consider it their own territory. But their seasonal payment is important for covering costs, so their contribution becomes indispensable for the manager. Who struggles to convince walk-in customers that there’s no space in the establishment, despite it appearing empty… The empty spots actually belong to season pass holders. Who in some establishments represent 90-95% of the clientele.

2. If photos are then instrumentally taken at dawn, or on rainy days, it’s even more likely that the establishment will be empty. But this doesn’t depend on prices – it’s simply that sea and bad weather don’t go together, or that people usually go to the beach after getting out of bed. Those photos serve a purpose: to demonstrate that beach clubs are doing terribly, even when it’s not true.

3. In June we saw many beaches throughout Italy, and very few were empty, because June was a top month for beach establishments: thanks to the very hot weather, beaches were stormed. The more cautious managers spoke to us of a 5% increase compared to 2024 (which had bad weather in June), the more enthusiastic ones of 40-50%. July went averagely worse than 2024, but here too a determining factor was climate: last year was a beautiful month everywhere, this year the weather from July 9-10th was unfavorable and a couple of weekends were also “lost”. Regarding August, it’s the two central weeks that make the difference, so any analysis is premature today.

4. In some areas of Italy there’s definitely a decline, particularly in Romagna (and here too with due distinctions). But this doesn’t depend on umbrella costs which may have increased in some establishments, but in others are exactly the same. There’s undoubtedly the loss of purchasing power affecting the presence of the Italian middle class. And indeed the decline isn’t limited to beach club attendance – all to be verified at year’s end – but extends to restaurants, hotels, even sales in large retail. There are simply fewer people. And this could also be a consequence of last summer’s mucilage, do you remember? In any case, it’s a phenomenon to be studied and not dismissed as “the fault of those beach operator thieves”.

5. High-spending tourism, from our observation, continues to spend and fortunately so, because its contribution is decisive for employment and wealth in our country. Wealth isn’t a problem, poverty is. That said, the feeling is that the increase in visitors from the Arab world, India, South America and other regions – including those from northern Europe, in the case of wealthy tourism – hasn’t compensated for some missed arrivals from the USA, Australia and Canada. This is another problem to be taken into account, but which could fundamentally have more political motivations than issues with Italian appeal.

These are some quick observations we feel compelled to report to the “people’s tribunal” that’s making itself heard on social media and has already motivated its condemnation sentence for the beach club sector. A sector whose current reputation is undoubtedly terrible, and which will have to work long to bring out what is its true contribution not only economically and in terms of employment, but also in service, beach safety, assistance to bathers – beach club lifeguards frequently save the lives of those who are on free beaches too – and development of the territories where they operate.

Then certainly, there would be talk of concessions, the modest fees, various gray areas in law application, but we’ll do this another time. Meanwhile let’s enjoy the central moment of summer, perhaps without controversies and perhaps with more joy. What do you say?