Tourists thinking twice

It's no good muttering about it, I need to put pen to paper. My wife and I have been coming to Malta for seven years but things are testing our tolerance and acceptance.

Let's start with rubbish - a colleague of mine visited Malta a few years ago and vowed never to return, unless she could bring a couple of rubbish skips and clean up this beautiful island. Stand at most bus stops and look at the rubbish.

We use public transport; but the indifference from some of the bus drivers is amazing.

Also, to quote a safety issue, on returning to Mosta from Valletta one afternoon, the bus driver was using his mobile phone for texting, all the way to Mosta. In the UK, he would have been arrested for putting both passengers and public at risk.

Several visitors have indicated to us that they will be looking at alternative destinations; surely tourism must be important to Malta. Am I correct in assuming that engineering, shipbuilding, agriculture, horticulture and banking are not generating enough wealth to sustain Malta's economy? Tourism is an essential component of the economy.