In Italy, you will be fined €500 if you step onto the 'pink' beach
Located near the western coast of Italy, Sardinia boasts some of the most beautiful beaches in the country. The island is often considered one of the best seaside destinations, and Spiaggia Rosa is regarded as one of the world's finest beaches. However, now you can incur a hefty fine for merely setting foot on it. Currently, you can be fined €500 (approximately £428 or $546). And that's just the minimum, as fines can reach €3,500 (£3,000 or $3,825), according to Euronews.
The ban is imposed due to excessive tourism, particularly tourists who steal sand from Spiaggia Rosa to take home with them. While a step on the beach will cost you €500, those caught with sand in their pockets now face an even higher fine of €3,500.
The coastline suffers from disrespectful behavior by visitors and overcrowding. To protect it, the island of Sardinia has limited the number of visitors and introduced a fee for some of its most popular beaches.
Legally, the prohibition of stepping onto the beach has been in place for over 30 years. However, it is now being enforced much more strictly.
Nevertheless, you can still visit Spiaggia Rosa, but you need to keep your distance from the beach. Typically, it can only be accessed by boat and is located on the island of Budelli, approximately 12 kilometers from the western coast of Sardinia.
Although this may seem extreme, the ban has been a fundamental step in restoring the natural pink hue of the beach after years of degradation.
If you do wish to sunbathe on pink sand, do not worry, as there are many other beaches in the world with unusual pink colors, from Pink Beach on Komodo Island in Indonesia to Elafonisi in Greece.
However, if you decide to visit them, please refrain from taking sand home, or else they may also become subject to a ban.
It is worth mentioning that governments in other countries have also begun to tackle excessive tourism. For example, in France, they have implemented a plan to combat 'overtourism' and restrict the number of tourists entering the country. Too many visitors bring only destruction and no benefits, according to local authorities. For instance, in the city of Étretat, suffering from 'set-jetting' tourists in northern Normandy, where some scenes of the detective drama 'Lupin' aired on Netflix were filmed. The city has a population of only 1,200 people, yet during the summer months, it receives over 10,000 tourists.
Meanwhile, tourists in Bali are prohibited from climbing sacred trees and posing naked against the backdrop of temples.