Unfortunately, Malta is now reaping what this government has sown in terms of how it has treated the island of Comino in the last few years.

This past week, Comino was described in the British media as a rat infested nightmare that 'resembles a run-down favela in a forsaken country'.

An article which first appeared on The Telegraph and was later picked on by the Daily Mail says that what was once an "idyllic island" bolstered by social media influencers "is now being devastated by overtourism".

"Makeshift bars playing loud music surround the guests serving alcoholic drinks and snacks which are then left as litter which provides an easy food source for Comino's ballooning rat population," the report says.

Moviment Gratffitti's Andre Callus described the current situation as 'unbearable'.

"For the people of Gozo and Malta, it's a nightmare and they don't go there anymore. Comino has been taken over by intense commercial interests. It is a very small place and yet there are 11 kiosks selling food and drink. They want to extract as much profit as possible from the island," he told The Daily Telegraph.

This wasn't the first time either that Comino and the over-tourism that has taken it over got Malta into international headlines.  Just last month the BBC ran a story which quoted tour operators having less than kind words about the island.

Tourist "go to Comino expecting paradise and leave disappointed," one said. "In summer? You couldn't pay me to go near it. It's hell on Earth," another told the BBC.

Now there are signs of hope: The Tourism Ministry, now under the purview of Ian Borg, is introducing a daily visitor cap - reducing the number of tour boat day-trippers from 10,000 to 5,000.

But it can definitely be argued that such action should have come much, much sooner - and that if it had, then Comino - and by extension Malta's tourism - wouldn't be suffering so much reputationally in the international press.

Indeed, there have been calls for more regulation to Comino for years now.  In 2021 a Times of Malta video revealing the proliferation of deckchairs and umbrellas taking up natural areas and any public space available showed the problem.  Today it has over 10 million views.

The next year Moviment Graffitti activists descended on the island in protest, removing deckchairs and umbrellas, calling out the rampant commercialisation, and coming head-to-head with operators and the police.

Under Borg's predecessor Clayton Bartolo, the government refused to publish an ERA study on Comino's 'Carrying Capacity Assessment' and he also consistently refused to publish details about the concessions granted to those who can operate the frenzy of kiosks and deckchair services on Comino.

In 2022, Bartolo promised a reorganisation on the island and the issuance of new tenders.  They never materialised, and the existing concessions - long-rumoured to be in the hands of people close to the PL government - were extended year after year.

Now we have come full circle: Bartolo is gone, but those who were allowed to make hay while the Comino sun shone conveniently on them still got to enjoy it for several years unchecked - consequences to the island and country be damned.

Now Comino is compared to a "run-down favela" in the international press - the job to change that reputation will not be easy. Till then, we'll just have to reap the consequences of what was sown.