If there is a chance of improving Bugibba and Qawra these should, for a start, be separated from the district of St Paul’s Bay. They should have a more direct management system, similar to those in UK resorts, with a resort manager to make the most of what the areas have to offer to both the tourists and the Maltese who use them.

How long do we have to endure being treated like second-class citizens, and tourists not given value for money?

Parking places have been taken by restaurants to accommodate their clients who smoke, and in some cases these areas are not used for nearly nine months of the year. Besides which, a number of establishments have stopped operating.

Parking slots in Islet Promenade are taken over in the high season by an amusement park.

A free parking area was made available for 250 cars, but the site has not been levelled or properly marked and no lighting installed, so one might as well park in a field.

Streets like Gulju and Sant’ Antnin need resurfacing very badly.

The pavements of the new construction sites and completed ones remain unfinished for months on end (see picture).

Streets are not swept regularly; rubbish is left outside from the afternoon till the next morning and no action ever taken. Writing to residents asking them not to take the rubbish out at night is not enough – how about enforcement?

The pavement all along the promenade needs a good scrubbing, especially around the litterbins and the benches.

I could go on but everyone knows what needs to be done. Let’s have a change for the better, whoever may be in power, we are all Maltese and we need the tourists and their business.

I remember the seventies when we did not have a Minister of Tourism; things were much better with fewer tourists, tour operators had to pay up front for allocations in hotels and sometimes they were even overbooked.

Maybe we are looking at things the wrong way; we say we need the business. We should start saying we need the tourists and if we look after them, give them a good service and value for money, the business will be there.

In the meantime I second any letters sent by Charles Micallef from St Paul’s Bay, as he shares my thoughts about the tourism industry.

Let us see action now, not just talk.

Michael Scicluna

ST PAUL’S BAY