Bugibba Arts Festival 2003

I would like to congratulate Joe Quattromani and his team on the staging of the Bugibba Arts Festival last week. I was particularly delighted to be able to hear the Amadeus Chamber Group on the opening evening. They were magnificent. As your Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech remarked in his speech at the opening of the festival "Malta is not just about sand, sea and sun!" This is our 15th visit to Malta and we trust the Bugibba Arts Festival will be a yearly event.

It was also very interesting to visit Wignacourt Tower, specially opened all day on Sunday as part of the festival. The staff there were very helpful and informative.

I do feel, however, that the festival needs wider advertising. I was fortunate to see the article about the festival in the online version of The Times on June 12, while I was still in London, and was able to contact Mr Quattromani.

I asked the reception staff at one of the large hotels in Qawra about it and they told me they knew nothing about it. This hotel is in fact hosting one of the art exhibitions!

This reaction was not unusual, many of the shops and businesses in Qawra had absolutely no knowledge of the festival. This is sad as I feel many more people could have enjoyed it as we did.

However, once again, many thanks to Mr Quattromani and his team for organising such a varied festival.