Once again, a “night out” for the Maltese proved to be a huge success.

Last weekend, the Notte Gozitana was held in Victoria, attracting thousands of Maltese and tourists to the sister island. Over 20,000 people are known to have crossed over to Gozo for the weekend, with hotels and apartments reported to be fully booked long before the activities actually took place.

This followed the success of two other “nights” that were held in Malta over the past months. The concept of having so many activities organised within a short distance from each other started off with the Notte Bianca in October, an experiment that surprised the organisers who never expected such a heavy turnout.

This was followed up by the Notte Magica, held on the feast of the Epiphany in January, which again was an overwhelming success. Both these activities were held in Valletta, and it had been years since the capital city had seen so many people there on a given night.

It was time to move on from Valletta, and Gozo was selected as the ideal place to have a similar activity last weekend. It would have otherwise been a quiet time for the sister island, but it turned out to be a very popular event, attracting thousands of people from the mainland. Many described it as having been as popular as the Carnival weekend in February or March or the Santa Marija week in mid-August.

The organisers of the three events, which always included the Tourism Ministry, must be encouraged with such a response by the public. If anything, it goes to prove that the Maltese are thirsty for such activities, which surely break away from the normal, monotonous routine and offer something different.

What is important now is that similar activities continue to be organised, but the organisers must be careful not to “abuse” of the popularity of the first events. Whatever “nights” are organised they should be spaced well apart (the three/four month gap that has separated the activities held so far is sufficient), offer different forms of entertainment, should not copy each other, and be held in different venues.

For example, now that summer is close, activities could be held on our bigger beaches, such as Ghajn Tuffieha and Ghadira. For the autumn/winter/spring events, apart from Valletta, places such as Marsascala, Marsaxlokk, the Vittoriosa Waterfront, the Sliema Strand, the St Julian’s sea front and Bugibba could also provide a good background.

These places might not have the historical relevance that Valletta and Victoria have, but on the other hand they are popular, open places that could easily accommodate the thousands of people who would attend.

In this way, the people would be offered something “different” each time. Of course, the type of activities and the participants should also be changed accordingly so as not to provide the same things over and over again. Repetition would surely be detrimental to such events, and what has so far been a successful concept could easily fizzle out.

Of course, not everything was perfect last weekend. The fiasco with regard to the Bobby Solo concert – which was not held because only a few tickets were sold – and the change of venue for the tenors’ concert – again, because of poor attendance – showed that the organisers still have to learn more as to what kind of entertainment to provide and what not. We are sure that lessons will be learnt.

What must also be seen to by the organisers is the transport issue, which many describe as the only hitch they encountered in attending such events. The traffic jams that ensued for the Valletta events and the difficulty to cross over to Gozo (and come back) in spite of the effort put in by Gozo Channel are matters that need to be addressed.

But, on the whole, such activities help to give life to areas that would have otherwise been quiet and provide a different form of entertainment to many Maltese families. It is a concept worth pursuing.