Saturday, 2nd August 2008
Mepa gives graeen light for cruise liner berths at Xlendi
Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono examines plans for two berths for cruise liners at Xlendi bay yesterday.
Mepa has issued permits for two berths for cruise liners at a buoy off Xlendi, Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono said during a visit to the coastal village yesterday.
Mrs Debono said the cruise liner business has become an integral part of the tourism industry from which Gozo could benefit.
The laying of a buoy for cruise liners has been on the cards since 2006, when the Seabourne Pride anchored off Xlendi. Although a small number of other ships followed, their masters had complained that engines could not be switched off because the ships dragged anchor.
The minister also spoke of how the number of persons using Gozo Channel services was on the increase. According to National Statistics Office data, a total of 1.8 million passengers and 497,552 cars used the service in the first six months of this year, which amounts to 133,000 passengers and 33,000 cars more than in the same period last year.
Specific marketing schemes and measures, among which was the 25 per cent reduction in licence fees for Gozitan tourist establishments and other schemes aimed to attract the domestic market, have all borne fruit, she said.
Accommodation statistics show that during 2007 the Gozitan touristic market experienced a global increase of 15.5 per cent of tourists who spent a night or more on Gozo. This comprised a 10.8 per cent increase in tourists from the domestic market and an encouraging 19.7 per cent increase in foreign tourists.
RSS
Comments
...and surely an ever-increasing trend of vehicles crossing over to Gozo cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called sustainable. So why are we boasting about it?
One cannot put an airconditioners compressor outside some facades because its an eyesore,and things like a berth that will marr Xlendi's scenic views is ok....idiocy at its best
Big Cruise Liners Inundate the Venice Lagoon
Summer is coming and big cruise liners are devastating the Venice lagoon creating a health hazard for residents.
The passage of these ships through the lagoon damages Venice’s health, its environment and monumental heritage; these giants are totally out of proportion in regard to the city and its ecosystem.
Ships are also a source of air pollution caused by the use of fuels which have been outlawed by the European Union. Nitric and sulphuric anhydrides and soot are released in enormous quantity from the funnels that, unlike the exhaust pipes of land vehicles, are lacking in any system to filter the fumes.
Those particular fumes from the ships come from engines burning heavy oil: all this to maintain the ‘industry of passengers’ (around 3000 in some single cruisers), collected by smaller engine boats and moved on these polluting means of transport. Big cruise liners are going to compromise the life and cultural heritage of Venice and the profits from these traffics induce the local people to own more and more pleasure boats with more and more powerful engines…