The announcement of a tourism community support pilot project is a welcome development.

The idea behind this initiative is to discuss proposals aimed at helping localities strike a better balance between tourism and residents' wellbeing, the Government said. "The pilot project will help residents in tourism zones tackle challenges related to waste management, public order, as well as the management of holiday accommodations and long-let rental properties", a statement by the government read.

Through this initiative, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Tourism said that it is working with other Ministries to provide targeted support to Swieqi and Valletta, two localities that have experienced increased tourism activity in recent years. Then, based on the results, the support could be extended to other tourism zones in the country, the Ministry has said.

The Government has already met with the Valletta and Swieqi local councils to invite them to submit proposals for the pilot project.

Tourism is a major economic pillar in the country, but the continuous increasing tourism numbers also has an impact. Indeed certain councils have been highlighting issues that they face for quite some time. Swieqi Mayor, Noel Muscat, has, for instance, highlighted the lack of regulation of shotlet apartments, and also the impact that this has on the garbage problem and noise disturbances.

Valletta Mayor, Olaf McKay, highlighted his belief that the pilot project can solve several issues, for example waste management, parking and accessibility.

The very fact that the Deputy Prime Minister, Ian Borg, when meeting with the mayors, said that preliminary consultations indicated that while certain issues can be addressed through national legislation, others need tailored, locality-specific solutions, is welcome news. A one-size-fits-all approach would not be the right way forward, given that every locality has its own particular issues that need solving, although they would also have issues in common.

One hopes that the proposals by the councils will be adhered to by the Government, and that solutions to the issues that they face could be found. There are other councils which could also use such support also.

But while this initiative by the Government is good, it is overdue, and is limited to mitigating the impacts of tourism activity.

The rate of construction has led to overdevelopment in parts of the Islands, and this has resulted in its own impacts, such as on an area's infrastructure. There have been constant calls for carrying capacity studies to be carried out in all localities, and this is an initiative that the Government should back and help local councils to conduct.

Through such an exercise, it would help identify what issues a locality has, and could also identify which areas can no longer take more of a certain type of development, for instance. This would help guide the Government and public entities in planning the way forward.