Alternattiva Demokratika leader Harry Vassallo and members of the party’s Gozo Regional Committee yesterday took to cleaning up some of the mass of broken glass bottles, plastic debris and other rubbish around Marsalforn tower and littering the historic saltpans.

Dr Vassallo said that “Whereas the Gozo Minister recently issued a media release boasting about how much she cares about Gozo’s heritage and her purported intention to present it to tourists in the best possible light, she negligently ignores the obvious fact that Gozo’s natural and historical environment is our most valuable asset for attracting high added value tourism and the career opportunities associated with it.”

He asserted that an elected MP from Alternattiva Demokratika would nurture and promote Gozo’s natural environment as the key element in its image. Neither the Labour party nor the Nationalists understand that sustainable development means long term, year-round, highly skilled and well paid jobs derived from new and repeat business from tourism, of a scale and measured magnitude, which small islands like Gozo can realistically cope with.

Strict control of building development projects with these values in mind plus the need to project Gozo’s natural assets is its key attraction to discerning tourists, a market segment characterised by very high disposable incomes.

AD Gozo spokesperson and party general secretary Victor Galea said it was scandalous for the Gozo Ministry, Tourism Ministry, the Malta Tourism Authority and the Gozo Tourism Association to peddle partnership projects such as ‘The Gozo Countryside Walks’, encouraging tourists to explore some of the most magnificent country walks, including the saltpans, where they are faced with the stale stench of rotting rubbish and litter typical of a third world country.