On Friday 13 May at 2.30pm, at the entrance to Mdina, a karozzin driver had the cheek to ask four young Spanish tourists, presumably here for a few hours on a cruise, Lm30 for a 20 to 30 minute panoramic tour of the Silent City. Enthusiastically they accepted, probably realising a few minutes later that they had been victims of daylight robbery.
That effectively means €69, or presumably the price of any low-cost flight from any major European destination to another.
This karozzin driver must have been laughing all the way. At two rides an hour, he was probably charging more than senior consultants in any area of business. Obviously, no fiscal receipt was issued so he managed to not only avoid paying VAT but also declaring Lm30 for income tax purposes. Now, how many people in Malta earn Lm30 a day let alone Lm30 for 20 minutes?
People on a cruise normally assess whether a country is worth a longer holiday. In the few hours they spend here, these ‘cowboys’ rob them like there is no tomorrow. Does it take so much to draw up and enforce regulation and discipline in this country?
Maybe these greedy people think that since the tourists who come to Malta have to pay one of the highest airport taxes in Europe, then it is fine for them to charge them the earth for a shoddy service.
After all what does a tourist get when in Malta but appalling roads, an island which looks like a permanent construction site, dust and rubbish everywhere, constant traffic jams and with some of the highest prices in Europe.
Who are we trying to fool? When we speak of competitivity we should really look at ourselves and just wonder whether we can ever be competitive. All one has to do is just look some 60 kilometres away from Malta and see what Sicily has managed to achieve in terms of service, heritage, good food, cleanliness, unspoilt countryside, beautiful sea etc. There is obviously a proviso, that is, if you can afford it, given that a 20-minute flight to Catania costs more than a trip to the UK by British Jet. Now that should be some food for thought for the Competition Authority.
The government should lead by example here. How can we expect the ‘cowboys’ in the tourism industry to be cautious in their approach when Maltese citizens leaving the country will be charged one of the highest airport taxes in Europe as from next August.
Maybe it is high time the government leads by example. Since the government considers that the free movement of its citizens within the EU is a luxury and not a right, can we always point our fingers and blame these ‘disgusting cowboys’ who think that tourists can be taken for a ride (no pun intended). If our government, which campaigned so hard for entry into the EU and among the arguments it brought up was the free movement of persons, is it justified that this free movement comes at such a hefty price especially when we have no choice. If our government’s attitude to outbound tourism is that this is a luxury, then doesn’t it ingrain a mentality among the uneducated that the tourists who are in Malta can afford it because it’s a luxury.
Elsewhere in Europe, cheap movement of people has become a possibility. Nowadays, thanks to low-cost airlines it is extremely common for citizens of various member States within Europe to constantly go on short weekend breaks since it has become so affordable.
Now imagine what a tourist would say if he had to pay €25 euros for a flight from a secondary airport in Europe to come for a weekend break to Malta. He would have to pay around €40 in airport taxes, and €69 for a 20-minute ride on a karozzin ride in Mdina. Maybe, it’s a blessing in disguise that low cost airlines have not yet come to Malta. Or is it?
What a big difference it would have made if we were part of mainland Europe.