In my articles this year I have made sure that I not only criticised constructively, but that I also gave solutions to the serious problems amassing from this sad situation. These islands are going downhill fast – they have lost any sense of hospitality, service, ethics, prudence and simple good manners. The public service is a collection of bad tempered and arrogant workers, who care nothing about giving a service to the public, and the private sector is stacked up with locals and foreigners filling jobs not careers. I cannot see much of a future if we do not change this situation round. This means that those of us left with a modicum of care, civic responsibility, hospitality and service must now stand up and drive this gaggle of non entities out of the authorities that they occupy.

In my last article, I wrote about a total lack of administrative duties and policies in some of our councils, and here I must bring up the case of the Mosta Council, who decided that a cluster of wonderful old trees in the main square were an eyesore and a hindrance to the development of a copy of Tiananmen Square or Red Square in Mosta, completely destroying the character and culture of this space. But, truthfully, this is not the first time that the authorities and councils have defaced the natural environment here in the last ten years – there was the case of Attard and the utterly useless central link; the development of the spaghetti junction in Marsa, where more trees went for the chop along the Marsa Sports Club, and so many more. Is this how that developer went on television to say that “Malta has never looked so beautiful in the last twenty years!”?

But, as usual, let me give six ways in which we can add our voices and action, so as to make sure that these uncivil actions are avoided in future:

We all need to attend our local council meetings and voice our dissent at any uncivil actions being planned for our towns and villages – it is your right and your duty.

Do not dismiss council actions as decisions taken which cannot be changed – you voted for the councillors and they have a duty to listen to you and not ignore you – do not whisper your complaint, shout it out from the highest point in your locality.

Councillors are public SERVANTS and not Demi Gods, if they will not listen make them listen by persisting in your complaint till it is solved.

You are part of any decision that concerns your locality, do not ignore this right and duty.

If you want to see quality tourism some day in your locality and Island, then start now to make sure you are part of that project.

Finally, understand that councillors and the authorities are answerable to YOU and not viceversa.

We have come to the end of 2023 and it is a time to take stock of yet another year of non starters, bad governance, incompetence and arrogance. How can you govern a country in that state? How can you ensure that you could motivate and encourage your communities to have that sense of belonging, civic pride and responsibility when, frankly, there is this shambolic state of affairs? We speak about tourism growth - this is just a superficial reference to some quantitative measurement related to numbers, rather than quality visitors; we even talk about tourism in terms of attracting those visi

itors who want to be here, but we persist in attracting anyone who is ready to pay and fill the “bums on airline seats”. I have an endless list of proposals and suggestions made during this year to improve tourism as a socio-cultural activity, that adds value and gives pride to the host community and the visitor, but there is no sign of these ever being implemented. We treat tourism like some cash cow where business is concerned, but we also treat so in terms of “jobs for the boys and girls”; we actually pay public servants, politicians, and anyone without one modicum of knowledge about tourism, six figure salaries to do absolutely nothing.

I have to say here that this situation is shameful, and that these Islands deserve the visitor who wants to be here, the visitor whose interest is genuine, culturally driven and quality driven. Yet, if we persist in following this path in 2024 then tourism will just become a short-term bumpy activity. I will state here my six proposals to turn around this sad situation : The state of these Islands is our responsibility, and not just that of the authorities or business community – we must act with a civic sense of responsibility here, and not just be couch poii tatoes.

Speak up locally or through social media to ensure that any hint of bad governance that will affect tourism is known through the four corners of this planet.

If you really have a sense of belonging then show it – complain about non-service, hospitality and bad tourism management and persist until that is put right.

Be the catalyst for change by criticizing constructively.

Let us work together to finalize the Guidelines to Stewardship and distribute it across these Islands. Finally, tourism depends on your attitude , service and hospitality to the visitor – make sure that you send out that positive message instead of the sullen look and grunt that most people transmit today. 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, not the one who does not want 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.