We have just returned from our fourth holiday to the Maltese islands, and as ever were overwhelmed by the culture and the sense of history contained within your beautiful islands.

Moreover, the welcome and friendliness we always receive from the people is the main reason why we have returned and will continue to do so.

Indeed it is good to see that since Malta joined the EU, it has been able to take advantage of EU funding to improve the environment and roads infrastructure, without losing sight of the reasons why so many people visit, and that is the natural beauty. We are not sure, however, whether familiarity has made us more critical, or whether there is a real developing problem with litter which is spoiling the efforts being made.

We always hire a car and spend a lot of time visiting various places of interest. One of these, the fishing village of Marsaxlokk left us disappointed, to say the least.

Beautiful traditional boats in the harbour and fishermen tending their nets, make very good postcards to send home, but the level of rubbish, not all of it tourist led, floating in the water, does not make a good impression and does not encourage you to stay awhile.

In addition, because we were staying on The Strand in Sliema, we walked several times from our hotel to the Magic Kiosk for a light lunch as we have done in years gone by, past buildings that are falling into decay.

I fail to see the logic in demolishing a building which is obviously successful, and serves a very real purpose to visitors and local people, offering good food at very reasonable prices, while allowing other buildings to become decayed, attracting the dumping of further rubbish.

Common sense must surely prevail, especially if Malta and its economy wants to benefit from the financial wealth that tourism brings.

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