Letters to the editor – March 28, 2026

Quality vs quantity in tourism

Mark Said of Msida writes:

Quality tourism is all about enriching experiences and giving back to the places visited rather than just taking from them, something that eco-luxury travel embodies perfectly. 

Many in Malta today are tired of mass tourism traps and have embarked on figuring out how to balance sustainability with high-end experiences.

Malta should be focusing on high-quality or high-value visitors. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

In the past, a big focus was on increasing the number of visitors. More visitors meant more success. “Heads in beds” was the game.

However, it’s time now for Malta to be focused on high-quality or high-value visitors, which is largely just a substitute for a high spender. We’re basically talking about higher-income travellers versus lower-income travellers.

Our government must start seeing attracting high-quality tourists as essential to the initiative’s success. A bigger impetus for pursuing a quality-based strategy has been community demand to reduce tourism’s negative impacts, and this is why our government and private stakeholders must combine their efforts in response to communities frustrated with congestion, environmental damage and other adverse consequences.

We have long now been clamouring for substituting quantity tourism with quality tourism. But can Malta become a yardstick of quality since we still aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected?

Tourism quality must no longer be considered a value-added characteristic but, rather, configured as a strategy of the tourism sector in the face of new market challenges.

Within the quality, there are two important aspects to consider: the expectations and service received.

Will Malta succeed in making the grade?

Gulf wealth bonanza

Albert Cilia-Vincenti of Attard writes:

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana is reported as being upbeat about the prospect of Persian Gulf wealth heading our way.

The prospect sounds more like further land and property inflation. 

Did I miss the item about how the seriously widening gap between the rich and the working and retired poor will be tackled in Vision 2050?