It should be common knowledge by now that tourism is what keeps our economy afloat. But for the past ten years no improvements have been registered in both quantity and quality of tourists. For the past years, the summer months have hardly been able to provide the tourism sector with enough cash to see it through the lean winter months. Malta’s tourist boom may well be over, but those who work in this sector still hope for another boom yet to come.

But hope alone will not revive the tourism industry. Nor will the billboards informing people that tourists matter. The tourism sector itself needs to change its attitude towards tourists. We need to stop fleecing tourists and start thinking on how to best cater for their interests and needs.

He’s fine, carry on splashing

The tourism sector, however, is only reflecting a greater malaise in our services sector in general and, beyond that, in the way the government itself functions.

Let me first give an example of this general malaise with a personal experience. A couple of weeks ago I took my eldest son to a popular complex with water slides. At Lm7 per person it was a relief to see the place fully refurbished and clean. As I told a family member, one should not mind paying the price if the complex offers a wonderful day. But I had spoken too soon. After a few slides we had to cut our day short as someone had smashed into my son’s head and knocked him unconscious. He was bleeding from the nose, which was bent to one side of his face. My brother called for help, but to our amazement there was no First Aid personnel or clinic available on the premises. A laid-back young employee who inspected my son with a casual glance reassured us there was nothing wrong with him. “Continue enjoying yourselves,” he said, without realising that my son was not conscious and that his nose was crooked! The complex could not even supply us with ice cubes for his swollen face – no ice cubes in midsummer, sorry.

It came close to a laughing matter when at the emergency ward we met a young man who had just broken his nose at the same complex. His girlfriend had also asked for First Aid and like us had been instructed to enjoy themselves as he had nothing. I wondered whether this was standard procedure at the complex – “U m’ghandu xej – komplu hudu pjacir…”

We were later told at the emergency ward that this was a regular occurrence at the complex. So it must be standard procedure indeed.

This exemplifies the general attitude that exists in our services and tourism sectors. It certainly does not reflect a country that prides itself on being an experienced tourist destination. Indeed, there seems to be no sense of pride at all.

Back to Brussels and beyond

A few days later I had to return to Brussels where I currently work and reside. I wasn’t exactly a tourist in Malta – I had returned to visit my family and pick up my son, who had spent his summer vacation with my mother.

A few days after my return to Brussels I set off again, this time for Denmark. My husband and I both needed to meet friends there so we decided to make it a family trip with three boys and three male kittens, driving a 13-hour, 940 km journey to the seaside resort of Hunested, to the north of Copenhagen, where a friend kindly offered us his summer house for the week. It is from this sunny resort (and believe me, it is sunny and warm) that I write this piece.

We crossed the German-Danish border at 4am. Ten minutes later we came across yellow beacon lights: workers were busy repairing the road. Later I came to know that road repairs on major arteries are done round the clock – they don’t stop before the job’s done. Indeed, Denmark’s road standards surpass even the Dutch and are by far superior to the German, French or Belgian roads. It’s fun to drive in Denmark… just remember to switch on the headlights even on the sunniest of days; that’s the law.

I could not help thinking about Malta’s roads. No round the clock work in Malta. How could one forget the long years it took to repair the Burmarrad road! Not only are major arteries not completed before the summer season – they drag on, summer after summer, same road, on and off...

Successive Nationalist governments have boasted of spending millions of liri on road construction and repairs, but what have we got to show for it? And now, suddenly it’s as if the EU will be funding our efforts and solving our road problems. But that’s the illusion government portrays. In fact, when it’s not the Maltese taxpayer it is the Italian financial protocol that’s covering the costs of the current projects. EU funding has so far covered negligible distances of our road network.

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Continued from page 19

Whether it’s the tourism sector or the government, or we, the people, what we need is a change in mentality. We need to rediscover our sense of pride. We need to recognise our strengths and weaknesses as a nation and identify what we can offer best. The younger generations are crying out for change. Their spirit needs to be lifted, their creative work given opportunity. There is so much to do to

embellish and make Malta a hospitable and truly friendly and exciting place. If only we take pride in what we have and what we do. For that is the crux of the matter.

Promoting Malta as a holiday

destination is just the icing on

the cake. The government, the tourism sector, everyone needs to be aware of the significance of

having a sense of national pride

for there lies the motivation that helps create a unique holiday destination.

Pride in one’s country and heritage develops the motivation to create and pursue new myths and legends, rendering them a reality, even if for a brief tourist adventure. The sky is the limit here – we are living on islands with mysterious, ancient temples, some of which lie on the seabed. It is a fertile pasture for excitement, mythology and legend. Let us pursue our own myths and legends and build on them. Our government should take a lead from Cyprus – there the tourist authority supports even theories that claim Cyprus is a remnant of the lost civilisation of Atlantis. There are more convincing theories backing the Maltese archipelago as being what remains of the legendary Atlantis, but these lurk on the Internet unknown to the vast majority. There is not enough sense of pride in us to release the energy required to embark on such quests.

It is no wonder things are hardly moving anywhere in the field of tourism diversification. The private sector has been predictable, while governance in Malta has long been stale and passive – active only when it comes to taxing the people to pay for an accumulation of wasted debts. We need a breath of fresh air; a different way of doing politics. With EU membership that is the only remaining strategy for us – fixing things up economically, environmentally and socially. And as was the case before EU membership, we need to do this ourselves and we need to provide the cash for it ourselves for no one will pay on our behalf. But above the cash and its efficient use, we need a sense of pride which would in turn give us a sense of much needed direction.

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