I may at times, not align with Dr Alfred Sant's viewpoint. However, when he discusses Gozo, I agree with almost everything he writes. His column in The Malta Independent last Monday repeated the pattern with uncomfortable precision. He pointed out that Gozo has experienced strong and ongoing economic expansion lately. Meanwhile, the Government deferred the island's main projects, while consistently vowing to complete them at a more opportune time.
The list reads like a national ritual: the tunnel, the airport and the hospital enlargement. Add the new Gozo Channel vessels and the perennial upgrade of Mġarr harbour. My view aligns with Sant's, given his consistent opposition to the initial two proposals due to his belief they would be detrimental to the island. Meanwhile Gozo grew strongly while all these projects stalled.
The official statistics substantiated his observation. The National Statistics Office (NSO) predicts Gozo's total economic output will be €919.9 million in 2024. That figure represents an increase of 8.7% over the previous year. Gozo and Comino now contribute 4.3% of national GDP (Gross Domestic Product), or €992.9 million. Every industry on the island registered gains, with trade, transport and hospitality leading the field. These areas increased by 11.7% and make up 18.2% of the total economic contribution.
Sant then asks the question that project lobbyists prefer to leave unexamined. Would growth have been stronger if the projects had proceeded? Or would growth have followed the same path with or without them? Or did Malta's own strong performance push its smaller sister along? Sant accepts that internal tourism, powered by Maltese visitors, explains a substantial part of the story. He disagrees that Malta's spillover is the sole reason for Gozo's growth. Neither do I, and the distinction matters more than it first appears.
Consider how the internal market now anchors the Gozitan economy. Maltese families cross on the ferry for weekends, feasts and school holidays throughout the year. Their spending sustains restaurants, farmhouses and shops that international tourism alone could never keep open. Yet this cushion carries a hidden cost, because it ties Gozo's fortunes tightly to Malta's. When Malta's economy slows, Gozo will feel the chill first and hardest. An economy that leans on one customer holds a weaker hand than its growth figures suggest.
Gozo's expansion has depended on tourism, construction and public spending rather than on new productive sectors. The island functions mainly as a short-stay destination for weekend visitors from Malta and abroad. That base delivers headline growth in good years but leaves performance volatile when demand dips. A narrow economy amplifies every shock, from ferry disruptions to a rainy shoulder season.
Construction tells its own cautionary tale across the Gozitan landscape. Cranes now punctuate village skylines from Marsalforn to Xlendi, and apartment blocks multiply along approach roads. Much of this activity counts as growth in the national accounts. Yet it consumes the very countryside and character that draw visitors in the first place. An island that sells tranquillity cannot keep pouring concrete without eroding its own product. Sant has repeatedly made this argument, and the building boom keeps proving him right.
On the tunnel and the airport, events have regularly moved Sant's way. Government strategy has gradually relegated the billion-euro tunnel to the back burner. Despite this, the airfield endures, with the Planning Authority (PA) giving the green light for a runway extension at Xewkija. The Gozo Tourism Association (GTA) keeps listing the airfield among its central budget demands. Sant argues both projects will flood the island with traffic, concrete and speculative development. Gozo's recent record strengthens his case: the island prospered precisely while these schemes gathered dust.
A distinction hides inside Sant's list of pending projects, and policymakers should draw it clearly. The hospital enlargement, the new ferry and the harbour upgrade serve residents' daily needs. The tunnel and the airport serve a growth model that Gozo has outgrown without them. Delivering the first group will improve daily life without inflating the island's carrying capacity. Building the second group would trade Gozo's distinctiveness for marginal gains in visitor numbers. Distinctiveness, not accessibility, remains the island's scarcest and highly bankable asset.
Sant's column presents a more complex issue regarding diversification, where the situation becomes less optimistic. Aside from its growth rate, did Gozo expand its economic base, or narrow its focus to fewer areas? GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita in Gozo stands at just 59.8% of the national figure. Growth built on hotels, restaurants and cranes narrows rather than widens an island's options. For years, the Gozo Business Chamber (GBC) has advocated for increased high-value employment, the establishment of new businesses, and the drawing in of skilled individuals. Progress remains slow because tourism and construction offer quicker, more visible returns for politicians and investors alike.
What would genuine diversification look like on an island of forty thousand residents? Digital companies and remote employees offer a way to ensure consistent spending all year, without needing to build more tourist beds. Schools and university extensions, focused on education, would draw in long-term inhabitants instead of short-term tourists. Agri-food, crafts and film production build on assets that Gozo already possesses in abundance. Government has meanwhile committed €130 million to strengthen sea transport between the islands. Better ferries help, but ships alone cannot carry an economy into higher-value territory.
Sant also suggests stress tests for the broader economy and essential infrastructure in the same column. He borrows the idea from banking, where regulators model how institutions may survive sudden adverse shocks. Gozo offers the perfect candidate for that kind of exercise. How would the island cope if internal tourism fell by a quarter for two years? What happens to employment if construction halves once the current pipeline of permits empties? Nobody in government appears to have modelled these scenarios, and that silence should worry Gozitans.
Sant closes by asking whether Gozo has diversified sufficiently, and he leaves the question open. The answer, on the evidence, is no, and the growth figures should not disguise it. An economy at 59.8% of national output per head faces serious catching up. The catching up will come from skills, digital connectivity and higher-value sectors that respect the island. It will not come from a hole under the channel or a strip of tarmac at Xewkija. On that much, at least, Dr Sant and I remain steadfastly on the same page.