This country owes a great heap of thanks to environmental and nature activist Cami Appelgren.  Single-handedly, this week, she went about organizing the damage response to the atrocious and utterly dumb job of spray-painting on pristine rocks and sights in our country-side, by the French Tour Operator N E D  Nature Extreme Developpement.

The arrows sprayed in red paint on the trail were meant to indicate the route to the participants.  The frequency of the arrows makes you think that these people have been confined to an 80 sq m apartment and have signs to lead them from the kitchen to the bathroom.  The tour is described as an Ultra Trail.  They were hardly out in the wild beyond.  You would also assume that they have some training in map reading and part of the challenge is precisely to make your way through unknown territory with some basic tips.  I mean, it seems that these guys could get lost in a shoe box. 

This kind of tourism is so dated.  To come into a country, without any respect whatsoever for the culture and environment, when you claim to be a Nature operator, belongs to another era.  Makes you wonder where this tour operator had looked before choosing Malta and Gozo for his next destination.  We have not heard from a local tour operator, who may have handled the group.  Is this because they went directly through the Malta Tourism Authority?  A responsible agent would have given them proper instructions on what is permitted and what is not in the way of setting up their itinerary and aid to the runners.  If not, they should have and should carry some responsibility.

Like so many things happening on a daily basis, this event seems to have had the “no problem, sure you can” permissiveness about it.  Fresh out of the mass parties that regaled us at the start of opening our tourism product again after our isolation, right onto the festa marches and the “let’s pretend I can’t see you Paceville crowds”, the red arrows land on our shores and we have the ABC of selfish, irresponsible exploitation of our tourism product.

It fell to Cami Appelgren to properly bring the matter to public attention and work alongside the Malta Police Force, ERA, Il-Majjistral Nature and History Park, and the Minister for Environment Aaron Farrugia to intervene and do the right thing to save our natural heritage and our thanks go out to all who contributed to a just solution.

It would appear that the paint cannot simply be washed off with water and a scrubber.  It needs professional people with the right resources and knowledge to deal with it.  Turning a rock over so that the painted side is beneath is certainly not going to absolve this tour operator from their obligations in cleaning up.

No stone turned, in this case, is what we expect.  Granted, our countryside is not the managed place with proper wardens and environmental agencies to prevent pollution and dumping and all kinds of abuse with clear and enforceable regulations.  Everything needs a police report to begin a complaint.  So, too, no flamingo can grab a bite and a rest in our sandy bays and not meet their demise, but that does not mean that there are not many citizens who deeply respect nature and the environment, heritage, preservation and the prevention of harm.  Many people are already very hurt when they see the harm being done.  Inviting it in and not prosecuting the culprits is an insult to many. 

We know how important tourism is to Malta and all those who earn their living from it.  Building up a good reputation, creating a balanced product and sustainable tourism is what we have been doing for decades now.  Just because we had to protect our health during the early Covid 19 pandemic, does not mean that we should just chuck away all the good that has been done to achieve success in our tourism, in order to panic buy and get the wrong-fitting outfit.

Whatever has been done since the re-opening of the airport, not wrong in itself, but too hasty in many ways, with failed mechanisms, has led to one blow after another.  Those hotels who had started receiving direct bookings and welcoming local patrons, suddenly saw cancellation after cancellation.  Sadly, other sectors of the industry, as in tourist attractions, transport, and others, seem oblivious to the challenge the small tour operators, language schools and other specialist interest travel agents, are facing alone.

For some who should know better, the only imperative is to turn a profit as soon as possible.  Yes, certainly, we all aspire and work hard to make a profit and keep employment up.  Unfortunately, though, manipulating health directives to meet short-term interests is only back-firing and the damage cannot be removed with water and a scrubber or bag of crisps.

We need to start by respecting ourselves, for others to respect us.  In order for that to happen we must stop cutting corners and living in a make-believe that if something is permitted or indeed, even encouraged, by above - as in politicians and the lack of law enforcement - then it is to our advantage.  Caravans sitting on the water’s edge, blocking access to the public and colonising the view, is not acceptable.  Shooting protected birds or trampling over our countryside and causing irreparable damage is not acceptable.  Demolishing heritage buildings and cutting down trees is to make way for roads and excessive construction is simply ignorant.  We are not living in the middle ages.

If this country really wants to make an impression and be considered civil and respectable, with a lively Mediterranean flair and our unique character and history, it is really time to step up the game.  Recently, selfish and unjust decisions are putting not just our lives but pride in our heritage to risk.  We will completely lose our identity and our children will not have any references to find a way in life other than money is the only merit to possess and only self-interest matters.

Along the way, we must not forget that there are over 80,000 persons living in risk of poverty.  Something needs to change.  We can no longer afford imbecile attitudes and poor judgement to jeopardise our common values.  Entitlement must give way to solidarity and preservation.  We are lucky to have some fine persons and organisations that are an example and have given enormous help to their fellow countrymen and women during this difficult time and even gone to the aid of other victims of tragedies such as the explosion in Beirut which left many homeless and without any income.  Anyone who dedicates their life to doing good and improving the life of others, whether through politics, through environmentalism and through good works, is the foundation of a better future and regaining our self-esteem and pride in our country, our home in the Mediterranean.