A vision of Malta

Robby Borg (April 7) writes of his low-cost airline and hotels; I am a British tourist, not ashamed to have used both and quite tickled by that name of Britishjet.com.

A couple of years back, wishing to stay in once elegant Sliema, I tried his now defunct back street Regent Hotel (with its weird plumbing and weirder electrical wiring) while, last June, I settled for his newly renamed Venus in Qawra - adjacent to a plot of building debris that attracted garbage and feral cats as happens in Malta. The manager might recall me as the ex-serviceman (Spitfires Ta' Qali) who requested that they re-hoisted our British Union Flag the right way up on its façade and my thanks to him for seeing to the matter.

Both places, to my mind, were extremely good value for money to a lone visitor who simply needed a clean bedroom from where I could sally out to meet my Maltese friends - avoiding, like the plague, boozy Brits who frequent such establishments. Mr Borg, in a recent interview with another Maltese English-language paper, said that British visitors to Malta were only interested in drinking. The Maltese tourist industry (apparently excluding Mr Borg) says it would prefer a higher class of British visitors but it is presently geared up for mass lower strata drinkers.

Now in my 80s and on medication that forbids bright sun, we make frequent visits to Scandinavia and the low countries though I would rather be in Malta where I was brought up and which I still love, even though it looks more hideous on each visit.

I have a dream - a vague hazy dream - of a Maltese archipelago republic thoughtfully developed on the basis of an austere beauty that could actually tax tourists eager for the privilege of sharing that wonder. In fact, I believe that some of the Balearic Islands have done just that for several years now.

Maybe Mr Borg should herd British lager-louts to such places as Benidorm where they are welcome. I am grateful to him for enabling me to make some cheap stays in Malta (I am not over-impressed by my experience with higher-rated places such as the Hilton with its indifferent service and hinterland of Paceville) but I would hope that the Maltese cherish their country enough not to allow it to be ravaged by drunken northern hordes brought in like cattle.