Two weeks ago I remarked on how unfair it was that only Maltese and Gozitan passengers travelling to Rome on the occasion of Blessed Dun Gorg Preca's canonisation between June 1 and 4 would be exempted from paying the Lm10 departure tax. Others travelling before or after these dates to the Eternal City would have to pay it. I am now glad to read in an Air Malta circular sent last week, on behalf of the Director General of Civil Aviation, to all travel agents and tour operators, that the tax exemption would also apply to all passengers travelling from Malta to Rome from 00.01 a.m. local time of May 31 onwards and to those returning to Malta from Rome by 6 a.m. local time of June 7. Common sense has prevailed. Well done. Now all that needs to be done is to have this tax waived on behalf of all patients and their relatives travelling abroad for medical treatment.

Branding seems to be the latest buzzword. Remember MTA's infamous campaign? We have been regaled over the last few days with billboards, adverts, press conferences and articles announcing PBS's new branding exercise which cost Lm10,000 for two boxes - one white, one red. Gone forever is the Maltese Cross that dominated our screens since TVM's conception in 1962.

I am sure Norman E. Grech must be fuming that the same treatment was not also reserved for the George Cross on our national flag! A lot of money has been spent on the branding of PBS which are promising better programme quality, etc, to us, the TV licence payers. I presume this branding also applies to programme planning. Well, please pull your socks up. I am referring to Tuesday night programming. You never, and I emphasise never, schedule two discussion programmes back to back on the same day. Bondiplus airs at 8.45 p.m. and this is followed by Parkinson at 10.15 p.m.. Anybody who doesn't care for talk shows will definitely be giving a wide berth to TVM on this particular night, especially with some of the Parkinson shows having already been screened and are now being repeated. The programme with Bob Geldof as one of the guests is a case in point.

Months before Malta and Gozo joined the European Union, I had spoken out publicly through my TV programme Bla Agenda that we should try and reach agreement with Brussels about keeping a duty-free zone - obviously this appeal fell on deaf ears. It could have been Gozo or even Comino. This would have opened the door to many more cruise liners to visit Malta. As things stand now, being EU members, we have about five or six passenger ships that will be calling weekly between now and November. All the others bypass us and go to Tunis instead where duty free is readily available.

I estimate we are losing about another eight cruise liners weekly and that's a very conservative figure. That amounts to about 18,000 passengers weekly = 540,000 tourists in a year's spring/summer season.

If one were to estimate that each tourist going on excursions, taking a taxi or a horse-drawn cab and buying a souvenir would spend Lm20 - and, again, that must be the very minimum - then Malta is losing out on almost Lm11 million per season, more than enough to make you gasp for breath. You will agree, I am sure, that our loss is of course Tunis' gain.

Just look at other EU countries and how they manage to beat the duty free law. The United Kingdom has the Channel Islands, which belong to her and which are duty free. Italy has Livigno and the independent state of San Marino. Spain borders with Andorra from where duty free goods may also be purchased and France very conveniently can rely on the Principality of Monaco. Cyprus has its northern part, which belongs to Turkey, which is not an EU member and is also duty free. Greece has two duty free zones in Piraeus and Thessalonika for US-registered ships.

It's so nice to see Gozo benefit from Maltese tourism during week-ends recently. We have had the Nadur carnival in February, the GharbFest on the St Joseph weekend, and another three-day festival in the last week of March, the Easter weekend in April and the forthcoming Lapsi Notte Gozitana coming up in May. Certainly good business for all the Gozitan hotels, bars, restaurants, holiday flats and villas and, of course, Gozo Channel.

But what about foreign tourists? Our sister island cannot survive only with Maltese tourists on weekends and summer holidays. Much more has to be done to entice foreigners to visit and spend a few days in Gozo.

With my family I travelled to Gozo for the Easter weekend. It was appalling and definitely dangerous to see tourists and trucks, trailers and cars vying with one another to board the ships first. Why can't separate entrance points be arranged for passengers to embark from? Or are we waiting for a tragic accident to occur before action is taken?

My friends and colleagues Ray Azzopardi, Alfred Zammit and myself have been commissioned by the Labour Party to organise a free open-air concert in Freedom Square, Valletta as part of the May 1 celebrations. We addressed a press conference last Monday and announced we have secured the availability of the internationally-acclaimed top Italian showman, singer and songwriter Toto Cutugno who, among his many successes, has various San Remo Festival participations and victories, a Eurovision Song Contest triumph together with millions of records sold worldwide. And it seems Toto Cutugno won't be appearing on his own in this concert. Another press conference is due to be held next week when a whole local and foreign supporting cast will be announced. Yes it looks like this year's May 1 Valletta festivities will be completely different to those that used to be held in the past. A bumper local and international celebration of music and song is being put together catering for the tastes of Maltese and Gozitans of all ages - and the best part of it is that it's all free of charge.