Barely a month after introducing on-the-spot fines for non-residents, the government has already doubled the minimum penalty from €25 to €50.
The swift revision is welcome, but it also suggests that the scale of the problem may have been underestimated from the outset.
Few would argue that someone who chooses to disrupt residential communities, damage public property or ignore the rules of the country they are visiting should escape meaningful consequences.
But the speed with which the legal notice was amended also raises another question: if €25 was considered appropriate only weeks ago, what changed?
The answer is perhaps obvious. The original minimum was simply too low.
In reality, €25 was unlikely to make people think twice before engaging in antisocial behaviour. It is an amount many tourists spend on a single meal or a few cocktails.
As a deterrent, it always appeared modest, particularly when compared with neighbouring Mediterranean countries, where similar offences often attract substantially higher penalties.
That does not necessarily mean Malta should now rush to match Spain, Croatia or Italy.
Bigger numbers alone do not solve behavioural problems. A €250 fine that is rarely enforced is far less effective than a €50 fine that offenders know they will receive immediately.
The real question, therefore, is not whether the latest increase is enough. It is whether it will actually change bad behaviour.
For years, residents have complained about the same problems every summer.
Excessive drinking, noise in residential areas, littering and disrespectful behaviour have become familiar headlines during the busiest months of the tourist season.
While the overwhelming majority of visitors behave responsibly, it only takes a small minority to leave entire neighbourhoods feeling that they have become secondary to the tourism industry.
That is why this discussion extends beyond fines.
Hospitality has always been one of Malta's greatest strengths, but hospitality should never be confused with permissiveness.
Welcoming millions of visitors every year does not mean accepting conduct that residents themselves would never tolerate.
The government deserves credit for acting quickly once it became clear that the original minimum fine was insufficient.
Equally, it is fair to ask whether that realisation should have come sooner. The problems these penalties seek to address did not emerge this summer; they have been building over several years.
More importantly, the success of the new legal notice will depend less on the amount written into law than on how consistently it is applied. Rules only deter when people believe they will be enforced.
The recent legal changes allowing authorities to remove tourists who repeatedly threaten public order or public safety may ultimately prove a stronger deterrent than the extra €25 added to the minimum fine.
Visitors who know their holiday could end prematurely are likely to think more carefully than those simply weighing up the cost of a financial penalty.
Whether €50 is enough remains to be seen. If experience shows it is not, then government should be prepared to review the penalties again rather than waiting another summer.
But one thing is already clear: if a law needs strengthening barely a month after it is introduced, it suggests the first version was never quite strong enough.