The immediate reaction to the massive queues in Malta and Gozo over the weekend, where Gozo Channel offered free ferry crossings between the two islands has been met with a mixture of laughter and incredulity.
It is true, as Maltese, we cannot pass up an offer of something for free. The amount of cars over the weekend spoke for themselves. There were queues from Mellieha to Cirkewwa, and in Gozo, there were queues all the way from Victoria to Mgarr. It brings back the old saying “jew b’xejn, jew xejn!” (either free or nothing, although the words do get a little bit lost in translation).
Some said it’s almost like we can’t afford to go to Gozo for the weekend, but we prefer to look at the positives in this. Gozo experienced a mini-boom over the weekend, and truth be told, this should be done again, but perhaps with a bit more thought.
Perhaps next time, the scheme should be altered a little bit. Making the entire taxpaying public foot the bill is not really the right way around it. What should happen next time is that the scheme should be prepared and announced way in advance. In that way, the government (through the Gozo Ministry) should speak to all those who might benefit – hotel owners, farmhouse rental companies, restaurant owners, bars, pubs, museums… all and sundry.
From there, agreement should be reached whereby special offers for tourists from Malta should be put in place (we are sure there were last weekend, but they were surely ad hoc).
From there, the Ministry should set up a formula whereby all businesses that could have enjoyed part of the mini boom should contribute, say, 1 % of the weekend’s profits, to go towards subsidizing the ferry rides over. While it might not cover the whole cost, it might cover a part of it and we are sure that with contributing 1 %, business owners would still rake in great profits. It is a scheme that can be put in place over the shoulder months and will give dividends.
To those who have derided the scheme – we say, don’t cut your nose to spite your face. All in all (aside from the traffic nightmare) it was a good idea. Everyone seems happy with it, and let’s be honest, apart from the Santa Marija week and the Carnival weekend, Gozo has to make do with a small trickle of the tourism Malta gets. Successive governments have tried to market Gozo as a destination in itself, but no one has ever managed to solve the problem of seasonality and double-insularity. Credit to this government, and whoever came up with this idea, while it was a ‘one-off’ it certainly gave results and it certainly gave Gozitan businesses a much needed boost.
And let’s be completely flippant and not take ourselves so seriously for once. It was fun. Yes, the elephant is now in the room. It was a fun day, it was something different and it has left everyone a little bit happier. It has also given us more reason to rant and rave about the traffic problem, but then we just simply wouldn’t be Maltese (or Gozitan for that matter) if we had nothing to complain about.
After all the talk, all the consultation and planning, someone has hit on a master-stroke. All it takes is a free trip across the channel to give Gozo the injection it needs when things are quiet over the winter. Who knows, if a formula is worked out, we might see this happen once a month, and why not. If it works, it works. And who can resist a day out on the sister island?