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Having known Malta for almost 20 years, I should be allowed to articulate my thoughts concerning one of the principal problems your Islands are facing today, and that is declining tourism.
Everyone is aware of this problem’s existence, which has gradually developed within about the last 10 to 15 years. Tourists are demanding more and more for their money and Malta is lagging behind, not able to keep pace with the rapid development, changes and improvements in most European countries. Basic problems have been left unfinished for years in Malta, such as regular, effective street and road cleaning, removal of shabby-looking sights, and completion of public works. Is this a matter of mentality, lack of law enforcement, or lack of government responsibility, right down to the local councils?
Private property is kept clean, and the Maltese take pride in this, but there is a blatant disregard for keeping public areas presentable. Littering is a national sport all over the islands. Cars, trucks and buses are still far from “controlled and admissible pollution”.
Some months ago, an action was started by the government where the public could call in from their mobiles and report motor vehicles with heavy exhaust fumes. Sadly, there has been no mention in the press about the efficacy of this action.
St Lukes’ incinerator is still in full operation. Air pollution is, next to bird hunting and littering the dominating complaint by tourists: anyone in Malta can burn anything on his field or property! This is something that has been eradicated by law some 30 years ago in Germany.
Another major deterrent for tourists is the island’s most disgusting hobby: bird hunting. This “tradition” seriously damages Malta’s and Gozo’s reputation as a tourist destination. It is responsible for a large chunk of the rapidly increasing percentage of declining tourism.
I am a golfer at the “Royal Malta Golf Club”. A lot has been improved on the golf course itself. It is a pleasure to play there! However, there is still an awful smell from the effluent in an open ditch on the north-east corner of the course, obviously deriving from an abattoir.
In addition, there is this unbearable “tradition” during the Qormi Festa of St Sebastian where: thousands of pipes from cardboard and steel are placed alongside the easterly part of the golf course. This arrangement serves for the firing of the fireworks and the petards.
For days after the Festa, a large part of the golf course is not playable because of the enormous amount of debris deriving from the fireworks and the petards. Not only that, but burning debris is leaving heavy damage on the very costly and sensitive greens!
I just cannot understand how all this is possible. I can only warn tourists others who wish to play golf on the third Sunday of July and the following couple of days: don’t come, it’s a waste of time and a disgrace to see this devastation.
Every single Maltese should be held accountable and made responsible for a better Malta and Gozo.
I predict further heavy declines of tourism, if nothing is done in that direction. Tourists deserve better!
Dieter Lehnartz
Mainz, Germany
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