Editorial: Malta can’t afford tourism on autopilot

Tourism has been Malta’s greatest economic success story. Thousands of jobs, entire industries and the livelihood of many communities depend on the steady stream of visitors who choose to spend their holidays in Malta. Over the past two decades, we’ve not just met our targets but often exceeded them spectacularly.

But success, especially when measured in sheer numbers, can come at a cost.

We have long championed the ‘more is better’ mantra: more flights, more hotels, more business, more economic growth... It has also meant more noise, more petty crime, more disruption, more inflation. In other words, we are unable or unwilling to manage the fallout. While politicians continue to tout the elusive ‘quality tourist’ as the end goal, the truth is staring us in the face: Malta has become a party island. And until we acknowledge that, we’re merely deluding ourselves.

These last two years, especially, has put the spotlight on this issue. Recent incidents involving large groups of young tourists misbehaving and disturbing residents in Swieqi and Sliema made headlines. Just last week, a video showed party-goers rampaging through the St Julian’s area. These aren’t isolated incidents.

Let’s be clear: there’s nothing wrong with Malta being a hotspot for music festivals and clubbing, a magnet for young people who will always travel for these experiences. But if we, as a country, continue to host, promote and even subsidise these events, then we must also invest in managing the consequences.

Clearly, local councils in hotspots like St Julian’s, Swieqi, Valletta, Sliema and St Paul’s Bay are not coping with the disturbances and flood of complaints. Residents speak of noise that continues into the early hours, vandalism, damage to property and relentless disruption.

Valletta’s revitalisation has brought its own problems and, today, you can barely have a conversation at a restaurant without being drowned out by booming music, which is clearly over the limit. Residents try to shut their windows in the stifling heat just to get a few hours of sleep.

Many parts of Malta, frankly, look shabby, with construction sites wherever you look, broken pavements, overflowing garbage... When the urban environment feels neglected, it’s no surprise it doesn’t command respect from either visitors or residents.

It is unfortunate that most have given up on calling their council – they know they are toothless. Residents are also giving up on calling the law enforcement authorities – they know their complaints will draw blanks.

How can a handful of officers control thousands of revellers crowding Paceville each night?

The decision to bring in eight Italian police officers to support local enforcement is actually a positive step, despite the criticism that this is a result of an outnumbered and outpaced local enforcement.

We’ve seen towns in countries like Spain resort to outright hostility toward tourists, and that’s not a road Malta should follow. Our criticism should not be aimed at tourists themselves but at our own inability to manage the sector properly.

One option would be revisiting the eco-tax. Introduced in 2016, it stands at a mere €1 per bed-night, capped at €5 – hardly a contribution considering the strain tourism puts on local infrastructure.

ADPD’s suggestion that these funds be directed to local and regional councils rather than the Malta Tourism Authority deserves serious consideration.

Malta’s tourism model has delivered the numbers. The very least the authorities can do is to manage those numbers, not by turning the island into a police state but by enforcing the law, before Malta starts making the headlines internationally for all the wrong reasons.