Cleaning beaches for celebrities

Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, in his column (The Sunday Times, January 7) referred to the recent visit by the AC Milan squad to our shores.

Dr Zammit Dimech wrote that employees were directed to clean and rake the beaches before the team's training session at Golden Bay. I am sure that AC Milan spent a lot of money while in Malta and it is right that they should have optimal conditions in which to train.

However I and thousands of other Maltese, besides thousands of tourists, visit this beach every day and I would like to point out to Dr Zammit Dimech that we also pay a lot of money in taxes. We too expect to find this beach clean whenever we decide to go for a swim in what is definitely one of the most, if not the most beautiful, of our islands' beaches.

Instead, day after day, we are confronted with incredible amounts of rubbish strewn both on the sand as well as in the water, ranging from bits of paper, plastic, barbecue residue and so on. The bins are always full, making sure that more people end up littering this beautiful beach.

I am quite sure that some amount of litter in the sea ends up being eaten by marine creatures. I can honestly say that in these last five years I have visited this beach nearly every day and have never once seen or heard of anyone trying to clean it.

All of a sudden, because the AC Milan players were due to train on this beach, in a few days it was spotless!

That Dr Zammit Dimech was boasting about how we managed to clean this beach for AC Milan is actually an insult to me, my fellow Maltese and (the dwindling) tourists.

I do not see why this beach shouldn't be cleaned regularly for the benefit of all.