On the cruise passengers trail

A year ago, the Malta Cruise Network took a group of journalists on a tour of Valletta and Mdina to see things through the eyes of cruise passengers, with whom first impressions are the only impressions. Vanessa Macdonald re-traced her steps and found that while the Valletta Waterfront and Mdina are miles better, most of Valletta's shortcomings remain.

Valletta Waterfront last year was still a work in progress - but progress is the operative word here.

Thursday was not a busy day. There were only two small ships in, a fraction of the people that arrive on Fridays. By 8.30 a.m. most had filed onto coaches for pre-booked tours but other passengers were still drifting down in small groups. As they leave the quay, a temporary booth offers them taxi services.

The system was working well last year and is even more professional this year. They are greeted by the coordinator in French, German, Italian or Spanish, who explains the tariffs. A group of four French opted for transport to Valletta at €10. They get a receipt and work their way to the exit.

The new terminal building channels arrivals through to the rapidly filling retail complex. Racks offer Malta Tourism Authority informative leaflets. Smart signs showing the way to Valletta centre (and to the taxis) greet you at every turn.

As they emerge from the terminal, two officials wait from the Malta Transport Authority. They too are smart, polite and helpful. They check the receipt and summon a taxi from the row of eight parked about 100m away.

The French speed away - towards Marsa as the taxi dares not do a U-turn now that the area is under police surveillance (a police station was opened there a few weeks ago). Other tourists decline the taxi but are unsure where to go.

Once you leave Viset's premises, the signs are rare, badly located and often unclear. Taxi drivers in the queue still tout irritatingly for business, as do the karrozzin drivers, although most have by then left.

Tourists complained that one wanted €200 for a one-and-a-half hour tour. The karrozzin driver showed them the proposed tour on a map, making it sound as though he would take them all around the harbour - when in fact all he would do would be to take them to vantage points on the Valletta peninsula from where they could see it! One of the taxis further down the queue picks up a fare and risks a three-point U-turn.

There is no sign that day of the illegal taxis. Apparently, they do not bother to show up when small boats are in. It is amazing that they are still around, having been repeatedly reported to the authorities. One driver was apparently taken to court but released because of insufficient evidence that money had changed hands. It seems a plain-clothes operation is called for...

The difference between the spruced-up waterfront and the decrepit stores below Crucifix Hill is dramatic. The stairs leading up by Boffa Hospital are as they were last year: cracked, unattractive, litter strewn.

At least the pavement up to Castille has been done and is being extended all the way past the Stock Exchange building.

The roof of City Gate has been fixed but the arcade is still shabby and grimy. The stench as tourists pass the stairs down to the Yellow Garage is overpowering.

The fountain is dry. Again.

The kiosks by the bus terminus seem to have taken up even more of the pavement than last year. And the pavement is as uneven and treacherous as ever. What a welcome to the capital city!

The coaches park at the end of the ditch, beyond the public transport ones. It is not a busy day and only low-season but it is already full. Weeds sprout out of the fallen stones, just as they did last year. The other side of the road has been landscaped; this side is still neglected.

Mayor Paul Borg Olivier said recently that Lm3 million is needed to do up all the pavements. The worst pavement last year had been that in front of St John's Co-cathedral. There has been an improvement: the chairs and tables of the nearby café have been pushed back to leave a wider passage. Otherwise, it is as cracked as ever, an undulating roller coaster because of the trees' roots. By the flower kiosk, tourists are herded through a corner less than a metre wide, having to step down onto the road by the reserved parking space for the lotto receiver.

So much for Valletta.

What about Mdina? I re-traced my way through Marsa, through where many of the coaches pass. As soon as you pass the terminal, the road is a cratered moonscape. Many of the light industries there have cleared up the rusty debris outside their premises. Alas, the road near the Sea Malta building is strewn with litter.

Viset - under protest - actually pays to clean up the public road alongside its development. You can virtually draw a line between where it cleans and where public cleaning should take over. No change there.

The roundabout near the HSBC headquarters is an overgrown jungle. Thankfully, the situation once the coaches get up onto 13th December Road in Marsa is better. The road is better, the pavements smarter. There are prettily landscaped areas dotted all the way to Rabat. Many of the rubble walls are in a good state of repair and there is not an oil drum in sight.

Parking outside Mdina is still a nightmare, especially for coaches one of which was parked on the pavement, but the complaints of last year have been relegated to the past.

Howard Gardens, currently being done up with EU co-financing, is already looking miles better.

The paving in Mdina has, at long, long last, all been done. A team from the Resources Ministry were replacing the glass in the 70-odd lanterns - and painting them - while an Enemalta team was removing overhead wires, almost done after two months at it.

We passed two sweepers in the space of a few hundred metres. A team was painting the woodwork at Greek Gate.

What more can I say? The city is absolutely lovely.

It seems that the upgrading project is to be officially opened soon, hence the buzz of activity. Cruise passengers would not know this. They would merely be impressed - just as I was.

When will it be Valletta's turn?

Over the past year, some 350,000 cruise passengers will have seen the eyesores that I did. Could they make the difference between their deciding to return - or warning their friends not to bother? Is that a risk we are willing to take?