Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1153841
18 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 AUGUST 2019 12 August 2009 The red swing in blue Gozo LABOUR'S support in the general elections between 1971 and 2008 had always hovered between 40% and 46%, its aspirations for a Gozitan victory always undermined by the traditional supremacy of the Nationalist Party on the sister island. Perhaps with the notable exception of 1987 (when it lost government), Labour always ended up winning the general elections when it secured more than 45% of the Gozitan vote. In fact it registered its worst results in 1981, 1992 and 2003, when it scored 40% while scoring its best results in 1971, 1987 and 1996 when it surpassed the 45% mark. Moreover Labour never won an election without securing at least 43% of the Gozitan vote. Labour's 48% score in last June's MEP elec- tion now represents the party's best result in Gozo in the past 55 years. But will this be enough to reverse a historical trend that has made Gozo a PN buwark? Surely, the PL's relative majority in last June's elections represents the party's best result in Gozo since the 1955 general elec- tion, back when they were led by a 39-year-old Dom Mintoff, snatching an absolute majority of Gozitan votes, electing three of five Gozitan MPs. The result, however, was a fluke. The PL would never win another absolute majority in Gozo. The party was nearly wiped out from the conservative island at the height of the Church-State dispute, gaining just 6.3% of the Gozitan vote in the 1962 election and 22% in the 1966 election. But after the Maltese Church lifted its moral sanctions on Labour activists in 1969, the party managed to double its vote scoring 44.8% in 1971. Support for the PL was to slip again by 5% in the following decade, with the party register- ing one of its lowest ever Gozitan results in the 1981 election. Surprisingly, led by incumbent Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, the party scored its best ever general election re- sult in 1987 with 46% of the vote in Gozo – a result which was not to be repeated until Al- fred Sant's victory in 1996. The increase in support for Labour in Gozo defied the national trend which saw the PN winning the election with a slim absolute ma- jority amid a tense political climate marked by economic decline, violence and institutional- ised corruption. …. The 2003 election saw Labour losing a fur- ther two points, dipping to 40.8% - its worst result in Gozo since 1992. This corresponded with a strong affirmation of the Yes vote in the EU referendum. MaltaToday 10 years ago Quote of the Week Tourism is not just about numbers Editorial "We can't keep increasing the number of beds we have. If we do this there is going to be a bloodbath." MHRA President Tony Zahra in a warning on overtourism IT would be futile to deny that tourism has made an invaluable contribution to Malta's entire socio-economic progress since Independ- ence, if not a decade earlier. The sector has clearly played a pivotal role in all Maltese governments' economic strate- gies; and while its centrality may have dimin- ished with the rise of 'new' industries in IT and financial services, there can be no doubt that Malta's economic health still relies, to a degree, on tourism. This is not merely because of the sheer amount of private businesses involved, or the employment or profits they generate; it is partly because Malta's tourism product is also ours: the sun, the sea, the beaches, the temples, the lot. We share our bars, restau- rants and streets with those tourists, and have done so for decades. And increasingly – partly as a result of rising immigration, but also due to changes to the traditional percep- tions of 'work' – we often find ourselves play- ing the part of 'tourists' in our own country: served by a wide variety of nationalities in local restaurants, etc.. What might have been a novelty in the 1950s, is now not only an accepted reality, but part of our very fabric as a nation. This adds to the value of the tourism product… but also exposes the risk of our (real or per- ceived) dependence on this one, vast sector. It explains why – as in most other areas – the industry has consistently been in the political and media spotlight over the past decades. Inevitably becoming a battle-field for politics, governments' tourism efforts are increasingly judged only in terms of num- bers… number of arrivals per year, number of days, weeks spent, number of Air Malta routes servicing tourist 'home' countries, etc. Among other things, this was the conclu- sion of a recent academic study by economist Lino Briguglio and Marie Avellino, director of the University's Institute for Tourism, Travel and Culture: which suggests that these numbers may also be harming the industry's long-term success chances. The authors conclude that although the 'sustainability' buzzword adorns policy docu- ments approved under different adminis- trations, in practice sustainability meant that "the industry was generally measured in terms of tourist numbers by the tourism authorities". This means that dependence of mass tourism continued "unabated, and very little, if at all, was done to reverse this trend". Matters now seem to have reached a point when the biggest threat to Malta's tourism product is, in fact, 'overtourism'. It is a view separately echoed by the industry's own con- cerns. According to Malta Hotels and Res- taurants Association president Tony Zahra, "The number of tourists visiting Malta [is] already greater than what the country could sustainably take," and that more beds would result in "bad times" for Malta. "If this country keeps progressing in this manner, it is no longer going to be sustaina- ble. We can't keep bringing more people. We already have a lot, so what we need to do is to bring the number of people we are getting but ensure that they spend more, otherwise we are going to end up in bad times," Zahra insisted. "We can't keep increasing the number of beds we have. If we do this there is going to be a bloodbath." Nonetheless, it is a contentious issue to confront. The bulk of the Opposition's criticism is that Malta should be investing in lower numbers of higher-spending tourists. This claim is backed up by the results of an on-line survey of 400 respondents, where a majority think Malta should aim for better quality tourists and tourist volumes should decrease. But while the long-term goal is commend- able, the reality is that our tourism infra- structure has been geared in the opposite direction for so long now – with results that were, until fairly recently, only ever measured in quantity, as opposed to quality – that we must question whether our product is re- ally of a standard high enough to attract that calibre of tourist in the first place. One must also bear in mind that a radical shake-up of policy today – such as the phas- ing out of entire categories of hotel – could cost thousands of jobs across the board, at the stroke of a pen. Instead, the authors of the study propose a tourism policy based on the democratisation in tourism development, involving the active participation of residents and local commu- nities. But they also warn that this will not be an easy policy to carry out, due to the conflict- ing interests and agendas involved in tour- ism. These include business interests, "often seeking short-term gains rather than social responsibility", and politicians who "often try to gain political mileage by boasting about tourism numbers". This results in "the ever-present tension between business and political interests as against societal, cultural and environmental costs". It is for this reason, too, that any change in tourism policy should start with our own cultural perception of the sector. Tourism is about a lot more than just numbers. In response to the statement "I wish to see more tourists in the town/village where I reside" only 18% of the respondents agreed that they wished to see more tourists in their town or village, while 51% of the respondents disagreed. The remaining 31% were unde- cided.