The island of three prices

I recently visited the old temples of Hagar Qim, and Mnajdra for the first time. It's ridiculous that to see these historic sites one has to pay Lm3.50 per person. No wonder many tourists preferred to go around the fence, including me. This is Brand Malta.

My visit continued to the island of the three hills, better known as the island of the three pricing systems... one for the Gozitans, one for the Maltese and one tourists.

I was queuing behind a tourist at a kiosk in lovely Dwejra when she was paying for an ice tea. She had no local currency, so the kiosk willingly accepted €5. He told her that €2.50 was worth a Maltese lira. When he gave her the change, just 60c, in return for a €5 note, I could not resist bringing the mistake to his attention. He just muttered that it was the correct change. This tourist was charged, or rather robbed of, Lm1.70 for a 30c drink. This is Brand Gozo.

While these people are ruining the tourism industry, because they only think of the short term, the government is embarking on the hefty Brand Malta campaign with the idea of giving tourists a quality product. Hoteliers, on the other hand, want low cost airlines, thinking that the real solution to the tourism decline is attracting tourists to Malta with a cheap fare instead of making sure they get good value for money.