Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1505544
IT'S been a while since I've watched any local TV; so I'm not sure if those old Malta Tourism Authority ads are even still run- ning, today. But there was a time, not too long ago, when our TVM viewing was regularly interrupt- ed by a series of MTA commer- cials, informing us all that... 'Mit-turiżmu, jiekol kulhadd!' Now: for the benefit of non-Maltese readers... that's one of those local idioms that doesn't translate very well in- to languages like English (or at least, not without making our entire nation sound like a bunch of tribal CANNIBALS, straight out of one of those old 'Popeye' cartoons.) Honestly, though. If that's the sort of message the MTA in- tends to impart... why not just throw in an image of tourists being sowly 'boiled alive', in a cauldron on a beach some- where... while vultures circle overhead; and hungry natives prepare for their village 'feast', in the background? Let's face it: it would at least be a little more honest. And besides: is it even possible that nobody at the MTA ever paused to consider the possi- bility that.... some of the tour- ists visiting Malta might actu- ally get to see (if not hear) that particular slogan (it was on billboards too, you know), and, um, 'ask the locals what it actu- ally means'? Because as far as I see: there is no realistic way of translating 'Mit-turiżmu, jiekol kulhadd' into English... without either: a) sounding a little like 'Han- nibal Lecter'; b) candidly admitting that we only ever view these things called 'turisti' - including the one asking the question, by the way – literally as 'fodder', with which to nourish our own (in- creasingly greedy) aspirations of 'wealth and prosperity'. In other words: while the of- ficial English transation might be 'Tourism Feeds Everybody' – and that's already problem- atic enough – we all know that what the slogan REALLY means, is... ...well, precisely what it says on the tin: 'Everybody feeds on tourists'. In other words: "Everybody (but EVERYBODY) in this country, gets to some- how 'feast' off the 2.3 million- or-so-tourists who are naive enough to actually choose Mal- ta as a holiday destination, each year: only to be shamelessly exploited, at practically every single stage of their presence..." Not, perhaps, because we all actively 'exploit' those tourists ourselves, on a day-to-day ba- sis... but rather, because our country's economy has now come to DEPEND so very heav- ily on tourism, that it quite lit- erally tanslates into the 'daily bread-and-butter', of our en- tire nation. THAT, effectively, is what the MTA really intended to say, with that ill-advised slogan. And while we must concede that there is a small element of truth, to that statement – in the sense that ALL tourism in- dustries, everywhere, exist on- ly to 'make money off tourists' (and most tourists seem per- fectly happy to go along with it, too) – a niggling little question remains. Is it really wise, on the Mal- ta Tourism Authority's part, to advertise precisely THAT part of our national approach to tourism – i.e., the most mer- cenary, exploitative, and utter- ly indefensible aspect – as the hallmark of our country's en- tire 'tourism policy'? I don't think so, myself... part- ly because I feel that there are far better ways, to 'sell Malta's tourism industry to locals' – like, um, reminding that us that we once had a reputation for being a 'hospitable nation' (be- fore evolving into the species of 'blood-sucking parasites', that we seem to have become today) – but partly also for rea- sons that are now becoming acutely visible, just by opening the newspapers. Here you'll have to bear with me a while, because we are about to embark on short a tour of... well, not 'all', by a long shot; but at least 'some' of the tourism-related projects that are currently under way in Malta and Gozo. This week, there were two separate news items, both pub- lished on the same day, detail- ing new applications for hotels to be either constructed, or extended, in residential (i.e., 'non-touristic') areas. The first – complete with art- ist's impression - was about an extension to the existing ho- tel at the top of Rue D'Agens (Savoy, to be precise), where Sliema meets Gzira; and the second told us that "a planning application has been present- ed to transform a residential palazzo in Birkirkara's urban conservation area in to a hotel housing 38 rooms"; sited right next to the Santa Liena church, in the central (older) part of town. As it happens, I used to live round the corner from that same church myself, around 20 years ago; and I still visit the Wednesday flea-market, from time to time. As for Sliema, it was the town I was born and raised in... and I still live (al- most) within view of Rue d'Ar- gens, to this very day. But while I am sorely tempt- ed to chip in my own thoughts, on how both these hotels might impact the character, and am- maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 AUGUST 2023 10 OPINION Is it 'Tourism Feeds Everyone'... or 'Everyone Feeds On Tourists'? Raphael Vassallo