Planned floating book fair visit leads to GRTU protest

The GRTU, Association of General Retailers and Traders has protested to the government over the forthcoming visit of the floating bookshop mv Doulos next week, arguing that the planned sale of books would seriously distort the market.

"Malta's book market is a limited niche market and cannot afford such visits," GRTU director general Vincent Farrugia said yesterday.

In a letter last month to Edwin Vassallo, Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Mr Farrugia urged him to take action to ensure that the Doulos was not allowed to trade in Malta in direct competition with Maltese bookshops.

"The fact that the promoters say that they would trade for charity is no excuse," Mr Farrugia said.

Mr Vassallo, who was also contacted yesterday, said no decision has been taken over the trading permit and the secretariat was still considering the application and implications mentioned by the GRTU.

Mr Farrugia told The Times that during the last visit of a floating bookshop some years ago, booksellers experienced a drastic drop in sales, and on that occasion sales on board that ship had amounted to around Lm250,000, which completely distorted the local market for months on end.

One had to keep in mind that booksellers have costs to pay such as rent, employee wages, as well as taxation, Mr Farrugia said.

The book fair on board the mv Doulos will be open daily to the public, when the ship visits Malta between May 22 and June 9.

The fair will be open Mondays to Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sundays from 2 till 10 p.m.

There are on board over half a million books in stock with over 6,000 titles on display and for sale, if this is allowed. The titles include educational, hobbies, cooking, children's, and Christian books among many others.

The vessel was last in Malta nine years ago. She is operated by a German non-profit charity organisation which seeks to promote good education and international understanding through its floating book fair and cultural exchange programmes.

The ship is manned by a crew and staff of 320 volunteers from 45 countries.

Different events are being organised to coincide with the visit of the mv Doulos. Tours of the ship will also be available on a first come basis (Lm2). There will be a Meet the Nations concert in the University of Malta's Sir Temi Zammit hall on May 31, tickets for which cost Lm1.

For more information about onboard events, contact tel. 2141 9323 and 7930 1426.