Tourism in Gozo

The Chambray saga is happily over and the people of Gozo now look forward to work commencing once again with a view to a speedy completion of the project.

Michael Caruana, the developer, is expected to make a success of the project. We also look forward to his decision on whether there is to be a hotel or not in the project. No doubt about it that having a hotel is the only direct way in which tourism will feature in the project. It will also be the source of regular employment for a number of Gozitans and the strengthening of the tourism product in Gozo.

With Dr Caruana's positive experience in the restructured Calypso Hotel in Marsalforn there is no doubt that if the hotel is built it will be a success. But the decision will be made by Dr Caruana solely on business criteria. Whether he exercises the option to have the hotel or else replace it by a number of residential units is clearly a decision which is now outside the remit of the government.

But tourism in Gozo must not be short-changed. If Dr Caruana decides not to build a hotel then the government itself has to step in with a substantial investment in tourism. I suggest that the government could invest the Lm3.7 million it is making out of the Chambray deal in a tourism project in Gozo. This need not be a hotel but it could be a project of an infrastructural nature. It could be a major project connected to transport, aerial otherwise.

Whatever the project the money is coming from a Gozo source and it is only right that it should be invested in Gozo.