Former Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant has hit out at Malta’s tourism policy, saying it lacks coherence.

In a post on Twitter, the MEP said the island could not opt for upmarket tourism and at the same time root for rave parties.

His position seems to clash with Prime Minister Robert Abela, who defended a cancelled plan to host international festivals on the island in the middle of the global pandemic, saying they would have given a much-needed financial injection of €25 million to the Maltese economy. 

In his tweet, Sant said that two days following a mass party, he said, he was in the Qawra/Buġibba area which is “already degraded by years of neglect.

“The place was squalid, in shambles, with litter and dirt all over the place,” Sant said.

Sant was Labour prime minister from 1996 and 1998 and an MEP since 2014. 

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