On 1 July the local press carried a summary of the Government notice about face masks that ran as follows:

"For nine months, it's been as essential as your keys, wallet or mobile phone - the face mask. Mask-wearing has been mandatory in public spaces everywhere since October, with hefty fines slapped on those who break the rules. But, from today, the requirements are being relaxed slightly, in a decision that could not come soon enough for many, sweltering in a record-breaking heatwave.

Here is what you need to know about the new rules.

Can I ditch the face mask completely?

No. Before you jettison your face covering, only those who are fully vaccinated can remove their masks and only under specific circumstances.

With 80% of the population fully inoculated, most people will be able to take advantage of this new rule.

The removal of masks is only allowed when outdoors, meaning anyone entering an indoor public space - be it a shop, restaurant, the post office, a clinic or any similar place - must don a face shield.

And, despite groups of six being permitted in public, those gathering without a mask must stick to staying in pairs.

If two fully vaccinated people are outside together without a mask and a third person walks up, all three must wear the mask, even if they have all been given the Covid-19 jab."

But what we need to learn is that politicians and the business community are short-termists and will only see as far as they are egocentrically interested to look; they care little about national interest, health and safety. The decision to ask people to remove face masks was one such short-term decision. I have been around in the last few weeks and it is sickening to see arrogance and total irresponsibility by local residents and tourists who have decided they do not need to wear masks to protect others or themselves from this lethal and vile pandemic that is still with us (I have to say we are lucky that there still are the sensible groups of local residents and visitors who choose to wear the masks and take full precautions such as social distancing).

This brings me to my theme for today's article - responsible tourism. This phenomenon is not an exclusive requirement for the visitor to a destination but it is equally important for the local resident who has that sense of civic responsibility, that sense of place and belonging. Responsible tourism has been described by the UNWTO as: "Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities." Unfortunately, it is one of those subjects - like sustainability and responsible travel - that are ignored by governments, authorities and the general public. Everyone thinks of tourism in terms of this industry that boosts economies and jobs but gives no thought to the fact that if the activity is not carried out responsibly and sustainably that destination can lose its sparkle, its safety and its security very easily. 

If we are not careful to reopen tourism properly at the right time on these islands and we insist on restarting the industry as we have done since July 2021, we will continue to be faced with the mayhem, shambles that faces us at the airport today and the number of active cases of Covid climbing again - we are facing the beginning of a third wave; all because of the irresponsibility of some tourists, locals, authorities and the government!

I have said this often enough, but it seems I need to emphasise the point further - if we do not manage tourism through a proper programme of health and safety processes there can be no economic gains and benefits. This international obsession by the business community to put pressure on governments to reopen tourism this year, at all costs, is nothing but an egocentric measure that will lead to the downfall of travel and tourism if we are not careful.

Responsible tourism is about looking now at 2021 as a year of recovery and plan for a year of reopening with sustainable, responsible and careful measures to ensure a quality and safe destination. The three Rs I coined in 2020 (and which the Malta Tourism Authority so eloquently borrowed for their Strategy 2021-2030) are very much still valid.

Recommendations for a responsible travel and tourism activity

Develop and manage tourism by looking at recovery before reopening

Ensure that the destination is reopened after a careful study that ensures a safe and healthy environment

Ensure that visitors are informed through the embassies and consulates before they leave their own countries about protocols and Covid measures

Impose heavy fines and sentences for those who try to ignore such protocols (whether these are the host or visitor community)

Put health and safety for a socio cultural activity before the egocentric benefits of a socio-economic industry

Work towards developing a safe, quality destination based on professional management of travel and tourism instead of a shambolic cacophony of firefighting techniques by amateurs

In my next article I will discuss the principles of Civic Tourism and my own rersearch on the integrated approach to tourism planning.

Dr Julian Zarb is a researcher, local tourism planning consultant and a visiting senior lecturer at the University of Malta. He has also been appointed as an expert for the High Streets Task Force in the UK. His main area of research is community-based tourism and local tourism planning using the integrated approach