When a government does not manage the provision of services effectively, this will leave a sour taste about that destination for visitors and the local community. This summer will continue to be remembered through history as “the summer of discontent” and that feeling today will go viral.

In my last article I wrote about the feeling on this island of tension, stress and the feeling of an existence rather than a life. The idea of offering hospitality and service is on the back burner and people here must realize that this negative situation will do nothing to create a reliable and welcoming tourist destination (let alone one that attracts quality tourism).

Do you think the sight of a massive crowd outside the PM’s office will inspire the responsible tourist to visit these islands? Can we really promote these islands as that friendly, service-oriented destination if the local community is worried about how its workers are being treated and how the number of unnecessary and fatal incidents at work are increasing? As always, I will give my six points on how to avoid this sad and disgraceful state of the nation in the next few lines:

1. Once again I call on the Planning Authority to ensure safety at all the construction sites (especially making sure these sites are necessary, sustainable and will add value to the character and culture of the islands);
2. The developer should be made totally responsible for staff safety and deaths as a consequence of bad management on sites. This means heavy fines, compensation and loss of their license for a significant time frame (sometimes including a prison sentence);
3. These islands are fast losing their value as a destination that will attract the visitor because of its depiction of a constant building site;
4. You need to make up your minds – when will enough development be enough? You have certainly crossed that point of no return in destroying the islands we all remember 10, 15 and 20 years ago;
5. This is not an island where development is part of a local or national strategy but where this is part of a devious and unethical way of making money illicitly; and
6. Finally, you all need to wake up and stop this rot from eating away at your islands – that way is called the democratic right and duty to tell the authorities: “Enough is enough!”

Well this week, I have to discuss the recent issues concerning energy and water supplies on the island in the 21^st century. These are services that affect the local community and the visitors and leave a lasting impression on both groups as to how well governed these islands really are. Nearly every week I hear of people, who are either considering going abroad to live and work, have gone away or are considering this a feasible option – indeed I could be one of these persons.

This once beautiful island has been physically destroyed by erratic and mindless developments (mainly to satisfy the unethical and dubious foreigner wishing to come here for political, economic or even criminal reasons); the attractiveness that was driven by hospitality and service has all but disappeared as the islands now host visitors who can only be described as the “mass” hordes who come here to forget their manners, their sense of behaviour and their prudence and then, to top it all during the hottest days the islands are subjected to power cuts and a lack of water supplies because of man-made inefficiencies not because of any natural cause.

Twenty years ago we experienced in our national grid including a new power station and an interconnector with the European grid but then there was no allowance for the hordes of third country nationals as well as EU nationals who were allowed to come here, not as tourists, but to provide the services that locals were not ready or willing to provide for locals and visitors. This led to a crash in the energy and water supplies (some of us can see this situation as déjà vu since this had already occurred in the early 1980s with the increase of tourists to the island (from 100,000 in 1971 to 1 million in 1985) without the strategy or plan to build a sustainable infrastructure). Here we go again.

Margaret Thatcher once experienced a crisis in the UK which was dubbed the “winter of discontent” that brought about social, economic and cultural upheavals to the country. Well now these islands are experiencing the “summer of discontent” but will you be strong enough to tell the authorities: “Enough is enough… you have raped these islands, destroyed the culture, ignored your responsibilities to manage the environment, the infrastructure and the health services here and now you are slowly destroying that one pillar of the economy left – tourism.” As always, I will put in my six penny’s worth (in the six recommendations to stop the rot now):

1. You need to continue your right to protest and express your disgust at the lack of any quality of life here today. You have contributed to this right in taxes and by upholding your democratic right to vote;
2. The government today must understand the definition of a Public Service, the people in government are not demi-gods or above anyone else; they are citizens who have taken the decision to serve others and work for the national interest;
3. If you allow this rot, this destruction of the infrastructure, the social life, the economy and the cultural adhesion to decay then you are just as responsible as the government here. Act responsibly but remember the old adage – Think globally and act locally, in other words you are all part of an international community so you must take full responsibility for this international crisis causing climate change, pandemics, wild fires, earthquakes and anarchy and wars;
4. You are part of the solution here – do not act irresponsibly, arrogantly and do not be totally oblivious of your civic duties;
5. Treat tourism as a social activity that can add value and quality to your life here and not some economic monster that will continue to destroy all that the visitor can enjoy; and
6. Finally, this quotation from a wonderful little booklet based on practical philosophy sums up how we all need to change if we want to enjoy a quality life, act responsibly and be hospitable and serve others honestly and with care: “The wisdom which enables you to help, the will which directs the wisdom, the love which inspires the will these are your qualifications. Will, wisdom and love are three aspects of the logos; and you, who wish to enroll yourselves to serve Him, must show forth these aspects in the world” –  Krishnamurti, 1910

By following these six stages, we can ensure that these islands are managed professionally, sustainably and with the idea of developing a quality activity that attracts the visitor who wants to be here. Travel and tourism to these islands today is about quantitative gains for the greedy and uncouth. We need to put professionalism and hospitality back in the equation.

Still more facts in this short article that I hope will continue to encourage more people to write in and assist in the compilation of the Guidelines to Stewardship by Q3 of 2023. Thank you to all those who have already shown their support from as far as the UK, Switzerland and Germany (incidentally three of our key source markets). If we persist in ignoring these facts then, as I have said many times, tourism here will be an activity that may just attract sordid and nasty characters instead of the visitor who wants to be here – let us keep persisting.

This year I will be completing the Guidelines for Stewardships with the help of a number of individuals and NGOs who have already approached me and I hope to present this to you, as the community, to our politicians and to our authorities. We may, yet, be able to save these islands from total oblivion as a sustainable and quality tourist destination –Will YOU join me?

Recommendations and Summary:

1.      Let us build community spirit by developing the guidelines for Stewardship together; I invite all those interested to contact me;

2.      We should identify areas where we can regenerate local tourism for the quality visitor;

3.      Recognise our duty as communities to enhance our environment and care for the precious trees that will add value to our moral, ethical and physical quality of life;

4.      Those NGOs and persons (including local councils) interested in working with me on this project should email me on [email protected] or call me on 9916 7805;

5.      Let us get going – let us really build better and reverse the horrendous state of this island.

I sometimes wonder – am I writing for the converted? Are there any other persons who agree or disagree with me? I frequently meet people who read these articles – but these articles are not just there to be read on a lazy Sunday afternoon, they are there to sow the seeds of change from apathy to commitment – to make tourism an activity we can be proud of. Let me know what you think and how you feel about tourism.

Dr Julian Zarb is a researcher, local tourism planning consultant and an academic 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