New Sliema visitor information booths for Blue Lagoon visits
The MTA says the structures are temporary and will support Comino booking system
New visitor information booths for those planning to visit the Blue Lagoon have been installed on the Sliema front.
The booths, which the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) told Times of Malta were "temporary structures", are aimed at providing a better service for those travelling to the Comino site.
They provide shelter for staff and improved facilities to support the Blue Lagoon booking system, including the checking of QR codes and distribution of wrist bands used to access the popular tourist hotspot.
One reader told Times of Malta that three booths had been installed along the promenade close to Sliema ferries.
Earlier this year the MTA said that eight such booths were set to be installed across Malta and Gozo, "to provide tourists and locals with better information, assistance, and guidance before visiting the lagoon".
The MTA booths are not linked to the enforcement action against illegal booths that was put on hold earlier this year after the council reached an agreement with operators.
The authority last month confirmed that the 4,000-person visitor cap for the Blue Lagoon would remain in place, and that those found to have travelled there without authorisation may be fined.
The booking system – which allows visitors to book a visit during one of three staggered time slots covering the morning, afternoon or evening – was first introduced last year. Each booking generates a unique QR code which is redeemed for a wristband at the official entry points at the lagoon.
Complaints of overcrowding continue to dog the popular bay, however.
Last month, the Tourism Ministry stressed the lagoon was was public land "accessible to all", after one of its officials was filmed incorrectly telling a beachgoer that part of the bay is not public.
The government has repeatedly refused to publish the findings of a carrying capacity study for Comino