Italy opened a 1,200-square-metre national pavilion at the ITB Berlin trade fair today, with the island of Sardinia taking centre stage. Regional Tourism Councillor Francesco Cuccureddu told reporters that Germany remains Sardinia’s largest inbound market, accounting for more than 3.2 million overnight stays in 2025—nearly one-quarter of the island’s total arrivals.
ENIT, the Italian National Tourist Board, used the show to preview new digital visa and e-border initiatives that will come online in Q2 2026, promising quicker entry formalities for German holiday-makers and conference delegates alike. Sardinia will be among the first regions to install biometric e-gates at Olbia and Cagliari airports once the national rollout begins, supplementing the existing kiosks at Rome and Milan.
Travelers who want to get ahead of the coming changes can lean on VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/italy/) for step-by-step assistance with Italian visas, e-border registrations, and other documentation. Whether you’re a leisure visitor heading to Sardinia or a corporate planner managing group travel, the service tracks requirements, fees, and processing times in real time, ensuring paperwork never becomes a bottleneck.
![Sardinia courts German market as Italy showcases digital-ready tourism at ITB Berlin]()
The regional government is pairing the infrastructure push with softer incentives: charter airlines that operate shoulder-season flights will receive rebates on turnaround fees, while luxury-hotel consortia are co-funding a EUR 2 million digital campaign targeting German-language travellers aged 35-55. Ferry operator Grimaldi Lines confirmed it will trial a “smart check-in” lane at Civitavecchia next summer, allowing passengers who hold the new electronic Schengen visa to board using facial recognition.
For corporates the promotion dovetails with Sardinia’s ambition to become a year-round events destination. Conference organisers will benefit from an expanded tax-credit scheme that reimburses up to 50 percent of eligible costs for meetings booked between November and March, provided at least 30 percent of delegates arrive from abroad.
Travel-management companies should nevertheless monitor capacity constraints: while Olbia’s new terminal extension has unlocked extra slots, hotel inventory outside the Costa Smeralda remains tight during spring festivals. Early block-booking and dynamic fare tracking are advisable, particularly if e-visa marketing succeeds in pulling additional demand from Germany’s high-spending Mittelstand segment.
ENIT, the Italian National Tourist Board, used the show to preview new digital visa and e-border initiatives that will come online in Q2 2026, promising quicker entry formalities for German holiday-makers and conference delegates alike. Sardinia will be among the first regions to install biometric e-gates at Olbia and Cagliari airports once the national rollout begins, supplementing the existing kiosks at Rome and Milan.
Travelers who want to get ahead of the coming changes can lean on VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/italy/) for step-by-step assistance with Italian visas, e-border registrations, and other documentation. Whether you’re a leisure visitor heading to Sardinia or a corporate planner managing group travel, the service tracks requirements, fees, and processing times in real time, ensuring paperwork never becomes a bottleneck.
The regional government is pairing the infrastructure push with softer incentives: charter airlines that operate shoulder-season flights will receive rebates on turnaround fees, while luxury-hotel consortia are co-funding a EUR 2 million digital campaign targeting German-language travellers aged 35-55. Ferry operator Grimaldi Lines confirmed it will trial a “smart check-in” lane at Civitavecchia next summer, allowing passengers who hold the new electronic Schengen visa to board using facial recognition.
For corporates the promotion dovetails with Sardinia’s ambition to become a year-round events destination. Conference organisers will benefit from an expanded tax-credit scheme that reimburses up to 50 percent of eligible costs for meetings booked between November and March, provided at least 30 percent of delegates arrive from abroad.
Travel-management companies should nevertheless monitor capacity constraints: while Olbia’s new terminal extension has unlocked extra slots, hotel inventory outside the Costa Smeralda remains tight during spring festivals. Early block-booking and dynamic fare tracking are advisable, particularly if e-visa marketing succeeds in pulling additional demand from Germany’s high-spending Mittelstand segment.
