Sunday, 7th June 2009

The Gozo Heritage closes as business dries up

Patrick Cooke

Seven thousand years of living history have been lost to the public as the Gozo Heritage museum was forced to close its doors on May 30, with one former senior employee citing the inability of independent Gozitan attractions to compete with the low rates that Heritage Malta offers tour operators.

Former Gozo Heritage director Brian Mizzi, who conceived the idea of the museum, said that it had been losing money for the past four years and they "stuck it out" for as long as they could, but were just not getting enough business.

The number of day-trippers visiting Gozo with tour operators has gradually decreased, and companies organising the tours are reluctant to include paying attractions to optimise their profit, he said.

He acknowledged that the Gozo Heritage could not compete with the rates offered by Heritage Malta to tour operators but said he accepted that the national heritage organisation needed to be competitive. The Heritage Malta-run temples at Ggantija are a popular destination for tour operators, as well as the Citadel in Victoria, which contains the Heritage Malta-run Gozo Museum of Archaeology and the Old Prison.

Gozo Heritage officially opened in 1988 and was housed in a large house on the Mgarr road in Ghajnsielem. It consisted of a journey through a sequence of areas, each of which presented an aspect of Gozitan history from the past 7,000 years using model reconstructions with atmospheric lighting and sound.

A former senior employee, who declined to be named, said he was "very hurt" by the closure, which led to the loss of 10 jobs.

According to him, the museum never recovered from losing significant business due to the reconstruction of the Mgarr-Ghajnsielem road in 2006 and 2007.

The road works caused tour operators to stop visiting the museum, and they did not return when the works were complete. No compensation was offered by the government for the loss of business caused by the road closure. Meanwhile, Heritage Malta offered cheap rates to tour operators to visit attractions which Gozo Heritage could not compete with, and the museum gradually fell off the tourism radar.

"All the private Gozitan attractions are suffering because of this," the former employee said.

Attempts to contact Heritage Malta chairman Joe Said yesterday were unsuccessful.

Figures from the National Statistics Office indicate that fewer day-trippers are visiting Gozo. In the first quarter of this year, ferry commuters between Malta and Gozo decreased by 11.1 per cent, compared with the same period in 2008.

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Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Saturday, November 21, 2009. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Comments

Dick Sefton (on 10/6/09)

How sad. I worked on the original installation for Brian Mizzi in 1988 and have always regarded this as a little gem in the Med. No doubt times change and visitor numbers are declining at every visitor attraction in Europe, but it will recover after the credit crunch. Gozo is a wonderfully interesting little island and I'm sure will be a favourite attraction even though the story of its history at Gozo Heritage in Ghajnsielem is now over.

Alfred Galea (on 8/6/09)

Yes you're right Mrs.Preston i think its possible that the rubbish left behind is mostly done by NOT the locals i can asure you of that as we Gozitans are proud of our little island and heritage, but mostly from irresponsible tourists, also from visiters from Malta., i have personnaly have seen foreign children just throwing anything in their way not in the bin provided, true weeds and such wild green should be looked at by the local councils dept. hopefully with welcomed feed backs from much needed tourists, the council will react and see that its kept tidy, but however more comments are needed maybe someone somewhere will listen before its too late..I daresay that in the days of the Knights the cittadel was alot cleaner then it is now in 2009!!!!!!!!!!

ANTHEA PRESTON (on 8/6/09)

I have just returned home after one week on Gozo. My husand and I come to beautiful Malta and Gozo twice a year. We drove past the Gozo Heritage several times and I felt compelled to comment on this. Firstly, Gozo Heritage is situated in a poor position to attract visitors and I am sorry but not surprised to hear that it has closed. It is not signed and is on a main road. I also have to say this, we walked around the citadel again over the weekend and I was truly shocked at the poor state of affairs! The ancient site is in a disgraceful state - what was once dwellings within the citadel full of overgrown weeds, rubbish, bottles, one area even had some discarded rubbish like a toilet seat, a paint roller and various other items! To see this was quite frankly disgraceful. You are neglecting your rich heritage sites badly and they will be lost forever! Tourists will not be compelled to return to places like the citadel if it looks like a neglected rubbish tip! Come on - give the area the investment needed, get volunteers if necessary! Save your heritage.

Adam Wiliiams (on 8/6/09)

Gozo is the last place that has original history , it will never come back if destroyed..My guess is it too will be lost forever soon .. Malta is gone its sad to see Gozo die too. Look at Sliema sea front and see the future, junk concrete rabbit hutches that will not last twenty years .. VERY VERY SAD

lesley kreupl (on 7/6/09)

How very sad. I hope the rumours that the beautiful building is to be knocked down to make way for a block of apartments is not true. Such places should be preserved - I realise that this ís costly - but instead of embarking on such ludicrous structures as the ferry terminal in Mgarr, Fort Chambray and the proposed new marina complex in Hondoq, the Ministry for Gozo should try and preserve and market what already exists.

James A. Tyrrell (on 7/6/09)

This is very sad news. Places like the Gozo Heritage museum are where the Government should have been concentrating their efforts. The fact that the present Government have put the environment and heritage of their country on the back burner has been reflected in the EU Elections. The people of Malta and Gozo have had enough of this Government and their unfulfilled promises.

The Gozo Heritage closes as business dries up

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