Just when you think that something is stuck in a rut, going backwards and forwards between the bureaucratic cogs of the European Commission and Malta, someone comes up with a good idea. Well, at least a fresh and constructive one, anyway.

The idea belongs to Tony Zahra, the president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, who said Air Malta’s restructuring was one of the challenges in the tourism industry this year, at the presentation of the fourth quarter tourism results by Deloitte.

Mr Zahra suggested that a possible way out, for Air Malta, could be for it to be restructured according to the Bank of Valletta model. This, he said, would involve the government keeping a minority stake and selling the rest to an investor. He also backed the broad consensus that it was important for Air Malta to be retained as a national airline.

It could be the way forward, because with the way things are going, it is not looking too good. Mr Zahra also suggested that the airline should refocus entirely on flight operations and farm out other services to third parties. It is a possibility. Ground handling, passenger handling, luggage handling and various other aspects related to the current Air Malta model can simply be farmed out, if needs be.

Not everyone might agree with his approach, but at least, someone is actually trying to contribute to finding a solution to this very dangerous situation. Malta’s tourism industry depends on, amongst many other things, accessibility. Other factors such as marketing and seat load factor (as the airlines say, bums on seats) come second. The MHRA rightly states that in order for current performance to be retained and bettered, then tourists must be able to get to Malta in the first place.

But Air Malta aside, it seems that hoteliers are worried that the international recession will really bite this year. There is no doubt, we have problems in that respect. Our largest market – the UK – is in recession. British people are spending much less on holidays, as are the Italians. When we factor in what were previously emerging markets, such as Spain, then yes, hoteliers do have every right to be worried.

Tourism is an area where the government has intervened directly and remained hands-on to keep the industry healthy. Let us be frank, we have done quite well in that respect over the past few years which has seen volcanic eruptions, two major global recessions, a war on our doorstep and much more.

But, the MHRA is also right to remind the government that it hasn’t got it all right. The roads are still an absolute disaster. Day after day, they get worse and worse. It shouldn’t even have to be a topic for discussion. Citizens should not have to resort to reminding the government that tourists don’t like our terrible roads, they should have been sorted long ago.

Part of Malta’s charm as a destination is its quirkiness. But quirkiness means dancing in the streets to village bands, celebrating wildly and doing things completely different to anyone else… Quirkiness does not mean having awful roads, bad service and an improving, but as yet, still not quite right transport system.