Priorities needed in national heritage

There is a common agreement that our national heritage is one of the most important assets that can be used to promote Malta's uniqueness, especially for those tourists interested in having a unique cultural experience any time during the year.

My basic argument is that the sustainability of such huge patrimony in the Maltese Islands can only be secured if it is supported by commercial sustainability.

That is a business model that many European countries follow through their cultural policies.

It is an undeniable fact that when compared to Malta's size, the amount of such patrimony is very significant. The main question that comes to our mind is how we are going to manage this entire heritage.

There is no doubt that Malta needs to adopt encompassing national policies in different sectors, not least in the area of cultural heritage that would prioritise the most important historical places that can add value to the "product" called Malta, within a national marketing strategy that is coherent and consistent with commercial sustainability.

In my opinion, priority-setting is of utmost importance. While admiring the huge work of several NGOs and individuals with a non-profit motive regarding national heritage, I strongly believe that it is very important for our country to have a clear national vision and policy.

The latter would imply that in the short and medium term the country invests only where it is really necessary and beneficial.

The usual mentality that we can prioritise everything and nothing at the same time must be replaced by national coherence that includes all important stakeholders - including potential foreign investors, the local civil society and the Church with its many places that can only add value to our society.

There is no other way in this globalised environment, whereby our role in every aspect must be thought in terms of global competition based on quality and not just on price.

Policy fragmentation is posing big challenges to this country in promoting itself, not just with tourists that come to Malta for the purpose of a holiday but even more importantly with those influential people within academic, business and civil services around the world that are totally uninformed about Malta's potential.

This country is too fragmented, and the solution is not more fragmentation through political decentralisation but more importantly through administrative decentralisation.

The latter can ensure more efficiency and effectiveness in promoting specific areas such as our national heritage. I think that the level of our country's development depends mostly on how the national and local political-administrative levels inter-relate. We cannot afford to follow the old mentality of being "patchy" in our policy decision-making. After all, there is our country's future at stake.