Taking sand from beach in Sardinia gets tourist fined

It might seem like an innocent way to preserve a holiday memory, but one tourist’s actions have landed them with a very expensive fine.

A tourist has been fined $1600 for trying to take home sand from a beach in Sardinia as a souvenir.

The French traveller was stopped at Elmas Airport as they were leaving the Italian holiday island with about 2kg of sand in plastic bottles in their luggage.

They were issued a fine of €1000 ($A1625), for their efforts to smuggle the sand.

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Sardinia’s beaches are a major tourism drawcard.

“These behaviours not only harm the environment but also compromise the maintenance of the coastline for the sustainable development of tourism in Sardinia,” authorities said in a press release on Thursday, according to The Independent.

Sardinia is renowned for its pristine, white sand, which is under threat from erosion and theft. There are heavy penalties for those who remove any of it, including jail time.

In August last year, a couple on holiday in Sardinia faced six years in prison after they were caught with 14 plastic bottles of sand, weighing about 40kg.

The French couple were reportedly about to board a ferry to Toulon in France when they were stopped by the police.

They’re not the first tourist to be sprung stealing sand from Sardinia.

The couple claimed they didn’t know removing the sand was a criminal offence, and were simply taking the sand home as a “souvenir”.

Sardinia isn’t the only island trying to protect its beaches.

Last year, Spain’s Gran Canaria introduced new rules that saw tourists facing huge fines or prison if they carved messages on protected beaches.

The Greek island of Skiathos enforces fines of up to $1500 for people who take pebbles from the popular Lalaria Beach.

And in Hawaii, removing sand from a beach can attract fines of up to $137,000.