I do hope it is not too late to pass a further comment on the incident in St George's Road, Paceville, which occurred on August 29 and made it to The Times news pages, illustrating rubbish strewn across the street.

The article indicated that even tourists took photographs of the mess and that is true as I was one of them. How sad, you might say, that I came thousands of miles on holiday and took pictures of rubbish.

Yes, I might reply, how sad is it that I found the subject to photograph but not by accident; it was thrust in my face every morning for 10 days, with each day getting progressively worse. And how many more tourists and evening revellers enjoyed the same experience!

The mess outside The Montrose was also compounded by the rubbish pile which also grew for days at the top of St George's Road at the crossroads outside a boarded up bar. Then there was the mess on the right of St George's Road from The Axis discotheque to Dragonara Road.

If the cans, bottles and pizza boxes are not discarded in the street they are thrown onto this plot of land but it is never cleaned up though it is a main walkway from several five-star hotels into the area by night and day.

Look at the state of the road from the Regional Road to the cross roads by Maltacom, behind The Intercontinental Hotel. The road itself is a mess, there are no pavements, the place looks like a building site, there is discarded rubbish everywhere, closed bars which have not seen paint in years. Who on earth is going to pay five-star room rates to overlook that?

The majority of tourists who arrive in Malta are from countries whose domestic and business refuse is accumulated in waste bins or skips and collected once or twice weekly. Bags or boxes of rubbish are infrequently seen on pavements outside properties except on collection days.

On the contrary, in Malta it is commonplace to see black plastic bags, boxes, knotted supermarket bags and free standing litter on pavements, street corners and vacant spaces and this is a major reason why tourists think of Malta as dirty. If it is your culture, custom and practice to handle refuse in this manner then you must have the collection infrastructure in place to deal with it quickly at domestic and business levels.

I looked at Ball Street, in Paceville, one side of which virtually is made up of derelict and vandalised flats outside which rubbish is stacked, and the other having boarded up bars and shops. Paceville is a busy area, it generates waste but then so do towns on the Spanish Costa, the Portuguese Algarve and French coast, but they are clean in the mornings when the tourists awake.

The matter does not end at domestic and business level. If the local council clears domestic and private contractors collect business rubbish, who is responsible for the roads and beaches? At Little Armier I found that some well-intentioned people had collected some of the rubbish and put it into several piles on the rocky beach - great! But who collects it from this area?

My guess is that it stays there until the cats, dogs, rats and the wind redistribute it over the rocks again to join the broken bottles, cans, barbecue waste and fast food items that lie there already. I have seen some attempts to clean up out-of-town roadways with small crews collecting litter and that is encouraging. However, as there is so much to collect it needs more resources if it is to be in any way effective - particularly when half the team is resting while the other half works. While it is quite fair to criticise many of the local population of Malta for their contribution to waste, I am quite certain that many tourists to the island can take their fair share of the blame for creating their share of it.

Having been critical of the mess I would also say that it is noticeable that there have been some steps to improve the environment. Such as the development at Birzebbuga, promenades, seating and play areas and walkways in various areas; some beaches are being cleaned, shrubs and trees being planted (and then watered and cared for afterwards) roundabouts being painted etc. all of which give a positive feel to the island. So let us give credit where credit is due.

The plans for St George's Bay and Paceville look impressive and should hopefully improve that area once the development is complete. It is to be hoped that such improvements in general can be continued and to a good standard of workmanship.

Everyone must know the limited natural resources of Malta and the importance of tourism to Malta's future and its prosperity.

Statistics state how many tourists there are annually and probably how many do not come back a second time and yet it is the repeat visitor that is needed to be encouraged. I noted an ambitious plan to bring 600,000 new tourists per year to Malta after starting a new low cost airline. While cheaper travel may be an incentive, if the repeat visitor cannot be attracted then there is little chance of 600,000 first timers coming to Malta annually.

Travel is getting easier and cheaper and the world is getting smaller as people are prepared to travel longer distances in comfort. Tourism is a global business, being more important to some countries than others and for those for whom it is more important, they have to try the hardest to get their share. Having been to Malta more than 60 times over the past 34 years my hope is that Malta gets it right for as a destination it takes some beating.