Overcharged (1)

The total abandonment of any control over prices has led to a free for all which is damaging Maltese and tourists alike. We Maltese have to grin and bear it while the authorities sit with their arms folded and allow scandalous overcharging to go on. Tourists come once and do not do so again.

Tourist arrival figures confirm this and I am sure that overcharging is on the top of the list of reasons why they do not return.

Just a few facts will bear this out. An Italian gentleman took a chaffeur-driven car from Valletta to the university area and was charged Lm10.

The same car and driver went back for him in a gleaming Mercedes three hours later and took him back to Valletta and guess what he was charged - another Lm10.

I sat down at an open café in Valletta and for two small bottles of still local water was charged 80c each. The list is interminable. The price of European wines was slashed when we joined Europe yet their price in restaurants has remained the same and in fact the profit margin has increased. No benefit was passed on to the consumer.

We have got to get our priorities right, firstly so that we can live decently and secondly to ensure that tourists whom we have always welcomed with open arms will continue to pour foreign currency into our economy. This will not happen unless we get prices down, reconstruct many arterial roads, increase cleanliness and not take people for granted.