British tourist arrivals, year on year, are down by more than 16 per cent, the government has admitted. German and French figures are also down.

It would appear that they are, at last, voting with their cheque-books or credit cards and giving up on Malta.

Perhaps somebody will now pay attention to the letters they write to the newspapers at the end of their holidays, explaining why they don’t intend to return. I find it impressive that they even bother to write.

Many of them complain about bird-hunting – and the usual Maltese riposte that foreigners also shoot birds is not a solution to Malta’s tourism problem. It’s their money, and they can spend it how and where they like.

Some complain about time-share touts, noisy foreign students, bad service, rip-off taxi drivers, foul-mouthed bus drivers, bad manners, general squalor and about thefts. Most of them complain about the amount of development that is allowed to continue in holiday resorts throughout summer and ruins their holiday with dust, noise and blocked roads. (They are not aware that most major developments don’t even start until mid-summer!)

Does anybody here listen? Obviously not.

However, their friends back home will all listen, when they ask how the holiday went, and whether they would recommend Malta as a holiday destination...

You don’t need to bring in highly-paid consultants, print leaflets about “Brand Malta”, or hold think-tanks to tell you what’s going wrong with Malta’s tourism.

The answers are in the letters columns.

Revel Barker

Ghajnsielem, Gozo