Sardinia tries again. Almost 20 years after Tiscali's experience, it's the turn of Sardinia portal, an OTA (online travel agency) entirely dedicated to Sardinia and founded in 2001, two years after the first and so far only listed Sardinian company entered the Stock Exchange. Booking of Nuoro, which has 30 employees and works with 700 accommodation facilities throughout the island, has the process of listing on the Aim Italia circuit of Borsa Italiana has starteddedicated to small and medium enterprises. With an ambition that is great, however: “To become international – explained the founder and CEO of Portale Sardegna, Massimiliano Cossu to FIRSTonline -. At the moment our clientele is almost entirely Italian, with the target oriented towards family tourism, especially from Northern Italy. But almost half of Sardinia's tourists come from abroad and we want to be able to expand and intercept them”.
This time the listing project brings true Sardinian excellence with it: tourism. The sector, already historically a flagship, is growing further in recent years, as indeed throughout the country: 2016 was a record year with 2,9 million arrivals and an average stay of 4,6 days, That it generated 13 and a half million visitors to the island's accommodation facilities. In the first six months of 2017, therefore excluding the summer, there was a further growth of 10%, with an increase in foreigners and a boom already at Easter. And the results of Portale Sardegna, which has also acquired the sardegne.com site and competes with other web agencies dedicated to Sardinia such as sardegna.com and charmingsardinia.com, are consequent: "The company - explains Cossu, 44 years old, Sardinian a past in Milanese finance – has seen its turnover grow, reaching 6,7 million in 2016. In the last three years, the technological development activity has also continued with 1,6 million euros of investments aimed at improving the usability of the portals, also in function of mobile devices”.
In fact, Barbagia will not be the Silicon Valley, but among the strengths of Portale Sardegna, in addition to the very strong specialization in the area, there is a web presence that aims to bring the market share from the current 0,3% to at least 1,5%.: “At the moment we have 8 tourists a year who book with us, but there are 150 registered users and target clicks are around 2 million, where 'target' means aware, aimed at effective use of the service, even if for informational purposes". But how will a relatively small site scale a market cannibalized by Booking? Or rather, what does Portale Sardegna offer more or better than the most used OTAs? “Advice and discounts – assures Cossu -. We have always focused on travel advisory, with an always active call center that maintains direct contact with the customer, providing not only assistance but also personalized advice. With us, the customer is followed up from when he sets foot on the island until he leaves, and can book both packages and single services, from accommodation, to transport, to excursions”.
It is precisely on transport that Portale Sardegna offers the most interesting conditions: with shipping companies the discount can reach up to 40%, while in general “on a purchase of around 6.000 euros we can offer a reduction of 500 euros”, Cossu guarantees. The average booking is for a medium-high target, around 3.000 euros, even if for a home + travel package for a typical family of 4, for a week, the cost can go down to 1.300 euros thanks to agreements with affiliated structures. which at the moment are 700 out of the 4.700 on the island, but which with the quotation would also be destined to grow. Meanwhile, judging by the reviews around the net, the level of customer satisfaction is very high (the average rating on the site is 8,9 out of over 3.000 reviews).
Going back to the financial part, the listing operation, as explained by Cossu himself, "provides for a collection of 1,3 million euros in a capital increase, with a free float that should reach around 25%". Access to the price list should take place in the coming weeks, most likely by November. Once this step is completed, the first international expansion projects will relate to the opening of offices abroad: "We have thought of London, Dublin and New York", revealed the CEO of Portale Sardegna.
