A legal notice which will allow music in Valletta's residential streets up to 1am should be withdrawn immediately because it will undermine the capital's unique attractiveness and render it similar to Paceville, Buġibba and Qawra, Nationalist MP Mario de Marco told parliament on Tuesday.
Speaking during a debate on the financial estimates of the Malta Tourism Authority, de Marco said Valletta's success lay in the fact that it was different from other localities, however important they also were.
"The moment we allow open air music in Valletta's residential streets up to 1am, we will not only be disrespecting the residents, but we will be over-commercialising Valletta and denying it the recipe of its own success," de Marco said.
His comments were echoed by other Nationalist MPs, notably Adrian Delia, Robert Cutajar and Claudette Buttigieg.
Delia observed that while the Malta Tourism Authority was planning to spend €20 million more on marketing, Valletta, a World heritage site, was being turned into an open air disco. The minister might argue that late music was what tourists wanted, but which tourists was he referring to, the high-end visitors who opted for Valletta’s boutique hotels and would not appreciate this music blaring out so late, or fish-and-chips tourists who wanted noise?
In his address, De Marco also referred to the controversy over the excessive number of deckchairs and umbrellas put up at Comino's Blue Lagoon.
Comino, he observed, is a Natura 2000 site, and that designation was meant to include management plans based on a tourism-carrying capacity assessment for the Blue Lagoon and the island as a whole.
"What had become of that assessment?" he asked.
"It was useless to speak on the number of deckchairs until such an assessment was made."
The Nationalist MP also expressed concerns about reports that the sea around Gozo was lacking fish. He underlined the importance of diving within the tourism industry and said it was useless to have marine protected areas without management plans to protect marine life.
De Marco called for a rethinking of tourism policies. What did Malta want, how would Malta calculate its tourism success? Would it be on the basis of arrival numbers, nights spent, or tourism expenditure?
Nationalist MP Robert Cutajar hit out at the tourism minister for not having reacted to reports about the Malta Tourism Authority being €20 million in the red. It was not enough for the minister to speak about blue flagged beaches and not this red flag, he said.
Referring to the Comino deckchairs controversy, he said no one believed the minister when he said that MTA enforcement officials had been on their way to Comino on the same day that pressure group Graffitti held its protest. Indeed, there had been complaints a year ago about deckchairs having taken over the Blue Lagoon, and the minister did nothing about it.
Adrian Delia insisted that Malta needed to improve its tourist offer. It was not enough for operators to invest in new accommodation when tourists on arriving in Malta were immediately greeted by sound pollution, congested roads and poor public cleanliness.
Other speakers in the debate were Labour MPs Ray Abela and Abigail Camilleri and Nationalist MP Graziella Galea and Ivan Castillo. Shadow tourism minister Robert Arrigo did not take part because he was indisposed.
The debate was opened and concluded by Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo who listed rehabilitation and restoration projects in various localities. He also spoke on how the tourism industry is gradually recovering from the COVID-19 blow, saying that arrivals this year are projected to reach 1.9 million, the same level as in 2015.
In his closing remarks, Bartolo said the government and the MTA were working to ensure that Malta would have a good touristic year and recuperate after the pandemic.
He repeated comments he made earlier today during the Mediterranean Tourism Forum, about how Malta is to become a "hub of tourism excellence."
Replying to comments made by PN MP Ivan Castillo on the 'dirty and abandoned' situation of Għadira, Bartolo said the government is investing €2 million in the regeneration of the bay.
"Unlike the Nationalist Party who did nothing for Għadira, this government will be investing in a new road, new promenade and in the next couple of weeks we will also see new showers in the area," he said.
The minister also spoke about how the MTA is broadening tourism marketing efforts on social media as well as traditional media such as the BBC. It is also expanding its marketing efforts in Eastern Europe and South America, among other regions, and will also venture to China and Asia. A new MTA office will also open in Spain.