Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary is doing his job when he seeks to bring over more people to Malta. He is, after all, responsible for the airline he manages, and it is his duty to see it grow and make more profit.

But his latest statement that he wants to carry eight million passengers annually to and from Malta has sent shivers down our spine.

To put matters in perspective, Ryanair at present caters for around four million passengers. What O'Leary is saying is that the airline is aiming to attract double that.

Of course, Ryanair's passengers include thousands of Maltese who make use of the airline's services for their travels. But it is safe to say that the majority of the eight million passengers O'Leary was referring to are tourists. After all, during the same interview he said that the intention is to spread tourists across the whole year, bringing more in the off-peak, shoulder months. He said that there is a great demand for Malta as a tourist destination, and that what Ryanair is doing is providing access.

Let us remember that, apart from Ryanair, there are other airlines that provide services to and from Malta. So, apart from the eight million O'Leary mentioned, there will be other millions of people travelling to and from Malta on other carriers at the same time.

Malta is heading towards establishing a record in terms of tourist numbers. By the end of the year, it is estimated that for the first time ever, Malta would have received more than three million tourists.

Tourism has for decades been one of the pillars of the economy, but on the downside it must be admitted that such a huge presence is an added burden on the country's infrastructure. This increase in tourism - which picked up again after the Covid-19 pandemic - has been coupled with a large rise in the population, up from 425,000 in 2013 to 563,000 in 2023, a staggering 32 per cent increase.

This situation has pushed us to speak about over-tourism, and questioning whether there should be a plan in hand to organise the industry in such a way as to be able to yield the same or better results in terms of income, but with less pressure on the country as a whole. In other worse, should we continue to aim for more and more tourists, or should we go for those who have better means?

O'Leary's answer to this would be to see the numbers increase. But he is only seeing his side of the coin. There are other factors that need to be taken into consideration. We know, for example, that the situation with regard to traffic is already unsustainable. We know that we are living in an overcrowded country which is not growing in size. We know that we have energy, sewage, environment and other issues that we have to deal with.

This is why what O'Leary said sent shivers down our spine. Because we cannot imagine what the situation would be like if the tourist numbers we have today is double what we already have, and the resident population continues to grow.