Speaking during the parliamentary adjournment, Mr Galea said the up coming Middle Sea race will see the arrival of various sailing vessels to Malta to take part in the race.
“This race, which has been on the calendar for some years now, puts Malta right on the map in the yacht sailing world. Apart from that, it also generates an amount of tourism in these quiet months,” he said.
He said that foreign yacht owners and race participants would see how good the yachting services are in our country and could in turn return to their country and use the best form of advertising in existence – word of mouth. He said the majority of racers that come to Malta for the race do so time and time again. “But not only that, they come back to our country to use it as a servicing port of call and even to spend a short holiday here,” said Mr Galea.
He said that the Royal Malta Yacht Club deserved praise for organising the yearly event, especially because as soon as a race finished, they begin preparing for the next year.
Mr Galea also mentioned that over the past week a substantial number of people had complained about being booked by wardens because they did not have a fire extinguisher in their vehicle.
“I am not against disciplining motorists for infractions. But this law, although it is still valid, has not been enforced for years and therefore we need an education campaign to tell people that this is still a law and it is still in force.”
Mr Galea also spoke about a workshop meeting that he attended over the weekend where a number of architecture and engineering students came up with various proposals and models for the development of City Gate in Valletta. Mr Galea said he was not going to go into the specifics of the proposals he saw because some of them could be viable in the future.
“But the important thing is that we continue to organise such workshops for students in various sectors because it is an enriching experience for them and they could also yield good ideas for projects that we can implement,” he said.
Mr Galea also mentioned a floating navigation museum that paid a visit to Malta recently. Mr Galea said the ship was wooden and although having engines, it retained the facility of sailing by wind power.
“It is a wooden ship and it gave Maltese people the opportunity to see how people used to sail the seas. It was a fantastic opportunity for people to see how things worked in those days,” he said.