BEACH workers in a popular holiday destination are threatening to go on strike this summer, leaving visitors without important amenities.
Seaside business operators are threatening to withhold their services in Italy this year due to a dispute over new rules for beach club licences.
Beach clubs, or lidos as they’re known locally, are found on most beaches in the European holiday spot.
They rent out sunbeds and umbrellas to tourists, while others serve food and drinks.
However, those workers have said they will leave beach-goers without their beds and brollies this month because new EU rules could see their licences be handed to other people.
Typically, the licences for the beach clubs have been passed down through families.
However, the change in regulations means that from January 2025, those licences will go out to public tender through a bidding process, rather than be retained by the families who currently have them.
The EU claims this will make it fairer for consumers, with some people saying the current process has created a monopoly over the beach club licences.
Yet, the Italian Union of Beach Entrepreneurs, has claimed that their businesses should be protected.
There are believed to be around 30,000 licence holders, most of whom claim that the new rules could threaten the survival of their businesses, along with the livelihood of their 300,000 employees.
They are threatening continued strike action throughout August promising that every protest will get gradually longer.
Strikes this month would be felt the most by tourists, with August the busiest month for tourism in Italy.
According to Euronews, many Italians take the whole month off work, while millions of international visitors arrive to enjoy the country’s hot summer weather.
The union is calling on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to bring in a national policy that would guarantee beach club operators receive at least two years of their annual turnover as compensation.
Antonio Capacchione, the president of the Italian Union of Beach Entrepreneurs, described the situation as the “Wild West” and said he just wanted “fairness”.
He told the Financial Times: “We want the cries of pain arising from Italian beaches to be heard.
“It’s the Wild West on Italian beaches in the absence of a national rule.
“It’s the bare minimum. We require fairness. Is it morally acceptable for someone to take possession for free of [a business] built through the sacrifices of an entrepreneur who did not sleep at night?”
The strikes would be the latest to affect tourists this summer, should they go ahead.
So far airport workers in the UK, Spain and France have all held walkouts.
Air Traffic Control staff shortages have also caused numerous problems for holidaymakers.
Meanwhile, this Italian beach has ancient temples and no crowds.
And this Italian holiday expert revealed a town and beach always overlooked by tourists.
