The Church’s Environment Commission yesterday said it had serious doubts whether the idea of developing two golf courses would solve Malta’s problems in the tourism sector.

Professor Victor Axiak, the chairman of the commission, said the commission doubted whether the golf courses, if and when they are developed, would actually increase Malta’s competitiveness as a tourism destination. In addition to this, when asked on the issue of low-cost airlines, Prof. Axiak said allowing low-cost airlines to operate to and from Malta was not the do-all and end-all, unless the product offered to tourists was not upgraded before.

The Environment Comm-

ission, which was set up within the Pastoral Secretariat of the Archdiocese of Malta, yesterday published its position paper on sustainable tourism, touching on a number of issues related to this important sector of the Maltese economy. These included the branding exercise being conducted by the Malta Tourism Authority, the report compiled by Deloitte on tourism in Malta and the dismal state of abandonment of some areas around Malta and Gozo.

According to Prof. Axiak, the most important measure which has to be taken as a first step towards improving tourism in Malta is a change in the mentality of the Maltese and an increased civic sense to keep the island clean and free of illegally-dumped rubbish.

The Church’s commission is promoting the concept of prevention rather than cure.

“If we develop these golf courses, which give us no guarantee that they would attract more tourists to Malta and thus improve our tourism industry, we would be making just another mistake in a series of mistakes which we have already made. We cannot afford to waste more of the limited amount of land which we have available,” he said.

Asked by The Malta Independent for the commission’s concrete proposals on the matter, Prof. Axiak said that in the long term, Malta has to concentrate more on educating young people to protect the environment while in the short and medium term, there is a need for a change in mentality.

Professor Axiak said Malta cannot afford to have unsustainable developments because of the lack of land and resources the country has. He said that in terms of tourism, more care has to be taken because, as time goes by, tourists visiting the island come here with increased expectations, especially in view of competition from other tourist destinations.

The report commissioned by the Malta Tourism Authority and prepared by Deloitte concluded that Malta could take another 350,000 tourists every year. However, the commission said, the country has to be very careful when setting targets which, at the end of the day, are unrealistic and which would have serious consequences on the country’s infrastructure.

The commission said that the tourism sector in Malta has reached its saturation point and the country is already feeling the effects of this on its environment. “It is useless concentrating all our efforts on bringing more tourists to Malta if the product which is being offered is weak when compared to other tourist destinations. All initiatives in the tourism sector need to aim to improve the revenue from tourism and that the tourists who visit Malta need to be scattered throughout the year,” the commission said.

On the branding exercise undertaken by the Malta Tourism Authority, the commission said this will only make sense and produce results if we first look at what is attracting tourists to Malta and what is making tourists choose Malta over other tourist destinations. More than copying strategies and implementing measures already put into force in other countries, the Maltese authorities need to look at what is the country’s true identity and what makes us different.

The commission noted with satisfaction that the branding exercise will be taking into consideration the country’s cultural heritage and other characteristics which make Malta different.

Prof. Axiak expressed his disappointment that after the Malta Environment and Planning Authority denied permission for the development of engineered landfills close to Mnajdra and Hagar Qim temples and denied permission for the development of a golf course at Verdala, the areas earmarked for these developments were not upgraded but left abandoned.