Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo has refused to publish details about beach concessions given to deckchair operators at Comino, Fra Ben and Ramla Bay.

Bartolo told parliament that licence information concerning the bays was “commercially sensitive and therefore cannot be provided”.

The minister was replying to a parliamentary question asked by Opposition MP Rebekah Borg.

Borg had a bit more luck when asking Bartolo’s colleague, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri, for copies of contracts concerning land rented out at Ramla Bay and Comino.

Schembri said that while the documents were commercially sensitive and could not be published, he would be arranging for Borg to see them for herself privately, given that the PN MP also serves on the Lands Authority board. 

Bartolo’s unwillingness to make information about the secretive concessions public follows a trend that his ministry has adopted in the past.

The Malta Tourism Authority, for instance, last summer refused a Freedom of Information request to divulge information about sunbed operators at Comino’s Blue Lagoon for similar reasons, having initially asked for more time to compile the necessary information.

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo. Photo: DOI

Information given in parliament last month showed that 17 different operators have licences to rent out sunbeds, deckchairs and umbrellas at just five beaches. 

According to a study by the hotel lobby, Maltese beaches are among Europe’s most crowded. Things are especially tight in Comino, where the average beachgoer gets just 0.8 square metres of space.

Anger at concessionaires’ abuse bubbled over last summer, when activists stormed the Blue Lagoon and cleared out deckchairs in protest. Tourism Minister Bartolo reacted by saying that things would be improved “by next summer.”