The deckchairs and umbrellas that have hogged Comino’s Blue Lagoon throughout summer will soon be gone, but this has not stopped people from petitioning parliament in a last-ditch attempt to enforce their removal anyway.

The petition, which asks the House of Representatives for “the removal of sun beds and deckchairs from Comino”, closed some days ago, gathering over 600 signatures.

It follows the public outrage provoked last month by a Times of Malta video that showed how empty deckchairs covered the Blue Lagoon area, leaving people with no spot to lay their towel. 

The footage of what is meant to be an idyllic tourist attraction went viral, reaching 4.7 million viewers and seen in the UK, Malta’s biggest tourist market, four times more than in Malta itself.

The story generated thousands of comments on the newspaper’s Facebook page alone, with the vast majority being critical of the situation, and was also picked up by foreign media.

But nothing was done about the beach operators, who take over the Natura 2000 site before anyone arrives, forcing those who do not want to hire umbrellas and deckchairs away from the shoreline even if they arrive first thing in the morning.

With Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo skirting the issue when asked about the image the sea of sun beds was projecting overseas, the next step has been to petition parliament.

“This petition is vital to restore the beauty of Comino in its simplest form and not littered with deckchairs and sun beds. This is public land and not commercial premises," it states.

“The Maltese public should not accept this, and the government should never have allowed it to take place,” it states.

The petition goes on to say that Comino does not need any ‘plans’ – “it needs to be left alone”.

Blue Lagoon is one of the top tourist destinations in Malta. Photo: Karl Andrew Micallef

To use tourism as an excuse is “pathetic”, it says, adding that “tourists would prefer Comino to be left in its natural beauty versus what has become of it”.

The issue of occupying public beaches with deckchairs and umbrellas before they are requested has been raised year after year and is not only confined to Comino.

This year, the tourism authorities admitted that “no permits for sunbed operators have been issued”.

But to date, and despite the furore and far-reaching negative impact, no clarification about the vague statement was made and nothing has changed.