Never mind golf, turn to the sea

On a recent flight to Rome, I was leafing through The Times (not a freebie from Air Malta, I'm afraid) while unavoidably eavesdropping on a rather heated conversation between two Italians seated immediately to my right.

What they were arguing about reflects what Charles Daly from Essex, England, wrote in The Times on October 11. The basic gist was that the island cannot hope to make much progress in the tourist industry unless it upgrades its facilities.

Mr Daly correctly suggests that we forget the golf course. I, too, am not in favour of this project that has been in the headlines for some time now. Even if it is true that a new golf course will bring in an additional 30,000 tourists annually (and I have yet to read a scientific report backing this figure), I think it is still too high a price to pay. It is proposed to hand over a tract of land the size of Sliema. Another golf course is not going to put Malta on the international golfing map. The Algarve, Spain and the south of France are in another league and as Mr Daly points out, we cannot compete with these destinations.

If we wish to offer more varied tourist attractions, why not concentrate on the one resource we possess in abundance - the sea? Rather than land-based activities like golf, we should promote diving, windsurfing, sailing and every other water sport imaginable. Our open spaces are too few and too precious. They should be preserved at all costs. I do not endorse the view that if a golf course is not permitted, the land in question will eventually be built over.

Mr Daly also touches upon another favourite subject of mine. How many letters are written year in year out about the disgraceful entrance to our capital city. Valletta has often been described as a gem but it needs to be embellished, repackaged and marketed for what it is.

We just cannot allow the entrance to look like a rundown bazaar any more. To cap it all, once you have made your way through all the taxi drivers, bread sellers, trinket hawkers and the like, you are greeted by a bombsite that has lain there for over 60 years! Isn't it also obvious to all that Valletta's bastions would look so much more beautiful if we removed the caper plants that adorn these magnificent walls? Surely this is not too great a task? The Armed Forces could easily complete this job in less than 12 months.

Just in case it takes another 50 years to finally decide, cannot the authorities go for a stop-gap solution and repave all of the City Gate area and Freedom Square and convert the opera house site into a public garden?

Our Italian guests were also complaining about the level of service in many of the establishments they visited. Their comment was that if such service were offered in their country, the place would not survive.

I have just read an interview with Dublin's "city manager", a term I had never heard before. As everybody familiar with Ireland knows, Dublin has experienced extraordinary growth over the last 10 years. Mr Fitzgerald claims that one of the reasons for the city's spectacular success is the fact that he is not a politician. He is appointed, not elected, and acts like a CEO of a commercial corporation.

Perhaps the time has come to take tourism completely out of the political arena in Malta. Incidentally, this man's term ends next year. Perhaps it would not be a bad idea if we offered him the opportunity of applying his winning formula to Malta.