Unique 'characteristics'

I agree wholeheartedly with Adrian Newman (August 1) who eloquently expressed my own reaction to a number of your writers' views concerning the recent closure of Malta International Airport in order to accommodate the Zebbug fireworks and other "irritations".

Like Mr Newman, my wife and I are Maltaphiles who appreciate and enjoy the unique and wonderful character of Malta and its people.

We have seen the alternatives and we really do not mind being slightly delayed by happy, friendly people enjoying their festa, nor do we object to the tolerant attitude of the police force, the condition of the roads and many other aspects of Maltese lifestyle that others object to.

Those readers who would rid Malta of what they perceive as threats to tourism are, in my humble opinion, in danger of throwing the baby away with the bathwater.

It is often said, and I agree with the view, that foreign visitors either love or hate Malta; there is no in-between.

Those who love Malta do so for what Malta is and will return time and again whereas those who dislike Malta seldom revisit.

At the risk of sounding arrogant, I would venture to suggest that those tourists who dislike Malta are the very people that Malta will not miss.

There are any number of characterless tourist resorts within the hamburger nations of the eurozone and it would be nothing short of a tragedy if Malta threw away its identity somewhere along the road to "progress".