Welcoming Gozo

A weekend visit to Gozo at the end of September was a pleasure. As soon as you board the ferry, you already feel relaxed. A very efficient shuttle service, smartly dressed staff and clean modern ferries await you.

Once in Gozo, away from Marsalforn and Xlendi, one can find quiet villages, such as Qala, Xaghra and San Lawrenz, with winding traffic-free roads and beautiful old buildings. It is a rare sight in Malta to meet tourists cycling around villages, but this was a common sight in Gozo.

Good value-for-money hotels are scattered around the island and not only in the well known tourist areas. At Lm22 for a double room, we were offered an extra spacious and comfortable room coupled with a hearty breakfast and courteous and welcoming staff in a peaceful area overlooking the harbour.

Tucked away in villages, one can also find a couple of restaurants which offer traditional as well as innovative dishes, sweets and choice of wines. Staff went out of their way to be courteous to diners, especially tourists, something which is becoming quite a rarity in Malta.

At one of the restaurants, a couple of tourists were so satisfied that we heard them book a table for another night before leaving.

Surely Gozo has great potential to attract independent travellers, especially young couples, for autumn and spring holidays. It already seems to be doing so, as one could notice tourists cycling, driving around and dining in the villages.

More frequent articles in travel magazines such as Condé Nast Traveller might help. After all, travellers worldwide are becoming more choosy and it is past the time when tourists flocked to mass tourism destinations - what tourists look for are cultural treasures which are unique for a country.

I appeal to Gozitans to keep up these high standards and to take care not to ruin this gem of an island. They should not be led by greed, as this leads nowhere. Unfortunately, not a few Maltese have been victims of such greed.

And does the MLP really think that Cirkewwa's unfinished pier is hampering tourists from visiting Gozo? Imagine a Maltese tourist on holiday in Naples not visiting Capri, only because of an unsightly construction site at the harbour. How would he be able to get to know of this construction, before actually getting there?