That staff from the Malta Tourism Authority offer ‘logistical support’ to foreign artists holding events in Malta is totally understandable.

The MTA must ensure that guests are well taken care of and have everything they need when they need it. Malta, after all, is largely dependent on tourism and high-profile events certainly raise the country’s cultural profile.

That MTA staff stay at lavish Valletta hotels with the excuse that they need to be close to these events, costing the taxpayer tens of thousands of euro is, however, less understandable.

A couple of weeks ago it emerged that the MTA had booked a number of rooms at the five-star Phoenicia Hotel so as to be able to provide logistical support to the nearby Christmas Fantasyland attraction. Times of Malta said that, after it sent questions to Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo, the MTA changed its plans and scrapped the hotel stay.

But in reply to questions sent by The Malta Independent, the ministry actually confirmed that the MTA currently has a €140-a night room booked at the Phoenicia. The ministry did not say how many people are staying there, and how many nights they are spending at the hotel. Although the Fairyland event is two weeks long, so the math is easy to do.

The ministry It also failed to elaborate on the need for these officials to stay at a Valletta hotel, especially in a country so small that you can reach the capital within minutes.

Furthermore, it confirmed that this was not the first time that MTA staff stayed at hotels. There were two other occasions this summer when this happened, and the information we have is that this practice took place in previous years too.

The MTA explained that, as part of the contracts it enters into with artists and entertainment companies, it pays for the hotel rooms used by the performers and accompanying staff.

While this is partly justifiable, since foreigners need a place to stay, one cannot but question the numbers quoted. In fact, the MTA said that it had paid for 180 rooms at the Excelsior and the Phoenicia for the Peter Tong and BBC concerts.

But the real question is about the money the MTA paid to have its own staff stay at the hotels. We are not talking here about people needing to commute 500km but, rather, Maltese citizens who have a myriad of options to get to Valletta.

In our opinion, this is yet another case of squandering of public funds – money spent for no justifiable reason. It comes as no real surprise because the tradition of wasting taxpayer money is, sadly, common practice in this country, and the monthly National Audit Office reports confirm.

Perhaps the biggest blunder of them all is the controversial €100m exit fee that Konrad Mizzi included in the hospitals privatisation deal.

It is about time that people started being held accountable for these shortcomings. Perhaps the Finance Minister, who is currently stepping up efforts against tax evasion and excessive spending will issue a policy against such needless expenditures which, after all, are being paid for by us and you.