Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1505544
11 ANALYSIS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 AUGUST 2023 anair and other low-cost carri- ers. By 2013, that subsidy had grown to €4.5 million. Effectively, Ryanair's econo- mies of scale opened up Mal- ta to new catchment areas of travellers from unknown Eu- ropean cities and backwaters. That meant anyone who could secure a cheap holiday in Mal- ta, was able to come over – not just the hackneyed 'quality tourist' living near the capitals served by Air Malta. Once the national airline's pricey routes were short-circuited by Rya- nair, the mass market of 'un- derserved' towns took the up- per hand. But in the end, it was all done to serve a hungry tourism in- dustry that is never sated un- less Malta can only serve as a place of all-year entertainment for the paying customer. It was also under Gonzi that in 2007, the Malta Tourism Au- thority took a decisive turn to wean the island off the ageing demographic of nostalgic Brits, to appeal to a youth market. Dovetailing with the island's development as a centre for remote gaming companies – which ushered in a new labour market of Scandi gaming bros and skilled EU workers – Malta began to host Isle of MTV. "We invite music lovers from all over Europe to come and experience what Malta is all about: music, fun, sun, sea, history and so much more," said Gonzi's tourism secretary Mario de Marco back then. It was music, fun, sun and sea... then history, in that order of importance. It only stands to reason that for the prime minister who presided over Malta's whole- sale investment in party cul- ture and low-cost travel – not to mention the slow prolifera- tion of so-called 'gentlemen's clubs' in Pacevile – his com- plaints about "quality tourism" ring hollow. If anything, it is a fallacy that ignores the basic economic transaction that tourism is. When the hotels lobby de- manded cheaper airfares to Malta, Ryanair and EasyJet were brought in to bring over the masses. Which politician thinks a euro is worth less if it is spent in a Paceville dive rather than at the St John's Co Cathedral? And it was after 2013 that Labour's maddening planning deregulation allowed five-star hotels to build higher and take in more tourists. The rush gen- erated hundreds of new B&Bs and AirBnB situations, as well as the mushrooming of bou- tique hotels right ahead of 2018's Capital of Culture year. Rising tourism, rising fatigue The contradiction of Malta's booming tourism records is that the island has been turned into an airport of sorts catering simply for the itinerant dollar. Malta's chief tourism lobby, the MHRA, last week was laud- ing rising tourism numbers set to surpass the pre-COVID lev- els of 2019. Yet only two weeks ago – the same lobby that wanted larger and more hotels – complained that Malta's reputation was suffering of rising levels of re- fuse, lack of upkeep, lack of en- forcement, and over-construc- tion. "We need to take the bull by the horns as the situation in our streets is in a dire state and will do nothing but put off tourists and their families and friends from ever considering coming back again to our is- lands," the MHRA said. Those are complaints ex- pressed on a daily level by Mal- tese nationals, many of whom do not necessarily directly de- pend on the business tourists bring. And while such concerns are no less valid when the MHRA expresses them, it does point to a truism about what makes a tourist destination attractive: a country's beauty is ultimately reflected in its liveability, the judges of which are Maltese na- tionals who live cheek-by-jowl with these inconveniences. Gonzi's complaint is true, insofar as rowdy tourists who come for a bawdy weekender are a nuisance any time of the year. But once the door to low- cost airlines and sun-and-sea marketing was flung open, who gets to decide how the la- ger-drinking yobs spend their cash in Malta? The non-stop growth of tour- ism only goes hand in hand with the devouring nature of the construction industry in Malta. And the voices least heard of all remain those of the Maltese people, routinely ignored by administrations joined at the hip to the rich business lobbies. The point is made more elo- quently by the young Nation- alist MP Eve Borg Bonello, whose video denouncing the levels of overflowing rubbish in Sliema and St Julian's points at the malaise residents endure due to the inefficient monitor- ing of the environmental con- sequences of tourism or bad neighbourliness from itinerant workers. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt MTV and island' vibe