It appears that the government is continuing to close at least one eye to whatever goes on in Comino, as the tiny touristic hotspot continues to be subject to the whims of operators throughout the summer season.

For years, the government had adopted the quantity over quality approach when it comes to tourism in Comino, with no limits placed on the amount of people who could visit the island irrespective of the environmental damage that mass tourism causes.

As a result, the island’s major hotspots such as Blue Lagoon are now bays crowded with sunbeds and tourists – removing one of Comino’s charms: the serenity of an island characterised by the natural beauty of the Mediterranean.

Much has been promised. NGOs had resorted to taking direct action with a protest in Comino itself to remove deckchairs which had invaded onto even the pier, and that prompted Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo to promise that changes would be afoot by the following summer.

He said later that the number of deckchairs and umbrellas on Comino was to be reduced by 65% - but an NGO called Ghawdix observed on Monday that rather than being removed, the deckchairs had been relocated elsewhere.

The NGO observed that the use of the foreshore, a Natura 2000 site, for sunbeds has destroyed the flora that once thrived there, as evidenced by aerial photographs from previous years. Sunbeds were already set up by 8:00am on both days.

The NGO said that this situation is "alarming, especially considering all the years of activism and awareness by NGOs and the fact that ERA published the Natura 2000 Management Plan for Comino eight years ago! The plan outlines the importance of implementing a tourism carrying capacity assessment to provide management recommendations. This should have been completed after the first-year implementation of the management plan, but unfortunately, nothing has been done on this aspect."

The ERA has continually refused to publish the Carrying Capacity Assessment study which was conducted on the island and which was intended as being a guidance document on mitigating and, where possible, solving some of the issues that Comino is facing.

"Regrettably, this plan has never even materialised, despite promises from Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo. Throughout these last few years, following pressure from NGOs and the media, the minister pledged that a plan would be in effect the following year. Although during the meeting we had with the Minister, he had promised that summer 2024 will be different from the mess of previous years, the 'holistic plan' remains non-existent,” the NGO observed.

“As the deckchairs were reduced by 65% from Blue Lagoon, these were just transferred to another part of the island, to a site which should have never been used for this type of economic activity! Whilst the minister claimed, 'We are making sure that the garigue is protected and that no umbrellas and deckchairs are placed on them but are placed on the rocks,' the photographic evidence clearly shows that this is surely not the priority, with the sunbeds all setup by 8:00am."

It’s clear that – while there have been some positives such as those related to the waste situation – by and large, an eye continues to be closed on what happens at Comino.