As a frequent visitor to Malta for the past 16 years I have always found the cost of flights expensive in comparison to other Mediterranean destinations. In the time I have been visiting the Maltese islands I have seen the decline of the tourist industry and the effects it has had on the people who rely on this business.

I am perplexed that in your editorial (31 August) you say that you didn’t need an Irishman to tell you what is wrong, yet your tourist board and your government know the answer and have done for many years yet you still allow MIA to dictate what happens.

Your government has allowed one company and its subsidiaries to survive whatever the tourist numbers are and yet you see hotels half full or closed and turned into nursing homes, your bars and restaurants are empty or closed.

You have an influx of students who come to learn English, but they don’t rent cars or go on island tours, they don’t go diving with the sub clubs they don’t spend money.

Families spend money at the dolphin/water park ,Popeye village, the captain Morgan cruises, the amusements at Bugibba, in the restaurants and bars. This is the clientele you need to maintain your tourist industry and compete with the other holiday destinations. A lot of my friends now go for weekends to Paris, Prague, Pisa and Barcelona. Why? Because it’s affordable. Does Malta want this business? As a family of three it has always cost an average of £700 for three flights to Malta from any UK airport during school holidays and rightly as stated in your editorial I could fly to Spanish airports for £450 or less. Where do you think I am going next year?

Perplexed and frustrated

Steve Allan

UK

Editorial note: The quote referred to in the editorial “Did we really need an Irishman to tell us this” does not refer to the government board, it refers to the stance adopted on the issue of low cost airlines by this newspaper.