I leave it up to readers to decide for themselves why Tourism Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco felt it necessary recently to say that the record number of cruise passengers visiting Malta in 2008 vindicates the government’s investment and commitment in the sector over the years. The sector has never been a matter of controversy.

The success in Grand Harbour should in the main be attributed to Viset and the millions they invested, at a risk. Not to the government, which should however be credited with the initiative to attract investors, who obviously saw the huge potential Malta has, and which has been neglected so long.

Let us wait and see how the “Cruise and Stay” efforts will fare. I bet they will not take us far. Not with the roads infrastructure we have. Instead of lauding his government Dr de Marco should be crying shame at the neglect of our roads, which no tourist can miss. Only tourists wanting a moonscape can want to come here, in spite of Malta’s attractions, handed down to us by nature, and so hugely enhanced by our occupiers over the centuries. The only contribution Maltese governments have made is to spoil those attractions, sometimes irreparably.

Dr de Marco’s government dreams of making Malta a five-star destination, and feels no shame in saying so. But all they do is to act like amateurs and neglect the obvious. Comparing Malta to Capri, for instance, or to Taormina, we come a very poor second, though our attributes far outstrip theirs. They have little, and make much of it, we have so much, and reduce it to nothing. That is the comparison Dr de Marco should be making.

Perhaps then we could see some improvement.

A. Micallef

Rabat