Sadly, we let ourselves down with the silliest things. It gets a bit repetitive, and we must always keep ourselves in check when it comes to sounding our own horn with regard to our tourism product.

All too often, we earn rave reviews on our flagship attractions – such as the Neolithic temples, the jewels of Valletta and Mdina, excursions and many, many more. But as the story on page three shows (‘Horror Hotel’), we tend to let ourselves down badly in other areas. The story is about a German tourist who opted for a three-star hotel; the picture speaks volumes. The bath is rusty and not at all appealing and is not fit to be in a hostel, never mind a hotel.

This, of course, is symptomatic of the mentality that we sometimes adopt of “it will do”. It will not do, just as much as short-changing bus passengers, giving bad service, tut-tutting at tourists, and ripping people off will not do.

We need to learn that tourists are not outlandish and stupid creatures. We know full well how demanding Maltese tourists can be when they are visiting another country, so we really should try harder.

We could have the best tourism destination on earth, but without showing common courtesy, paying attention to detail and giving people the very least we would expect ourselves when visiting another country, we will not get very far.

It is a well-known fact that tourism reviews depend on word of mouth for advertising. People share their experiences on hotels, people’s manners, helpfulness, value for money and general attractiveness of a destination as a whole.

No amount of advertising, reviews or articles about Malta can be as effective as the reply to the question: What do you think about Malta for a holiday? “It was fantastic, we had a really good time”.

That one sentence is enough to convince a person that Malta should be their holiday destination. Now put the shoe on the other foot. If a person were to bad-mouth Malta, whether it be to friends or foreign media, it does our reputation untold damage. Prospective tourists will not look to see whether holiday horror stories are one-offs or not, once they hear of such experiences, they will be put off.

We should concentrate on what we are good at and the MTA really should embark on a good audit check to make sure that accommodation and service is up to scratch in all hotels and apartments which are offered to tourists.

We are sure that such checks are indeed carried out, but we must separate the wheat from the chaff, whether we are talking people or buildings, it is irrelevant. But anything that we offer which is substandard will not ‘plug the gap’, so to speak, but will cause much more damage in the long run.

Of course, you are always going to get tourists who will complain about anything, but the authorities must put their foot down to prevent ‘horror holidays’. We must also foster a better attitude towards dealing with complaints. The MTA really does seem to be trying to deal with such complaints as they arise, but it must raise its profile and be more visible to tourists in promising swift and decisive action if complaints are lodged. Numbers alone are not enough. One happy tourist is worth 100 satisfied ones.