Visitor manhandled by bus driver gets apology from tourism authorities

Tourism Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco said he was concerned at the attack of a Spanish tourist by an aggressive bus driver.

He ordered an investigation and asked the tourism authority to apologise and offer the tourist a free holiday to Malta to make amends.

The apology will continue to soften the stand taken by Isabel Reymundo Cuesta, from Madrid, who had vowed never to return to Malta after a bus driver threw tickets in her face and pulled her arms in an attempt to throw her off the bus.

She said she was reconsidering her decision and was surprised at the kindness and the help she found from the Maltese and the tourism authorities.

Dr de Marco said the bus driver's behaviour was a "national shame".

"We are trying our best to promote Malta abroad and it costs money, then you have a person like this bus driver who throws it all away," he said.

Admitting he was very embarrassed with the bus driver's behaviour, Dr de Marco pointed out that it was the behaviour of one man and not of the entire country.

He was speaking during the launch of a Malta Tourism Authority pilot project in three bays.

The initiative, being organised in collaboration with the National Book Council, offers bathers a selection of second-hand books in a bid to promote reading.

Dr de Marco lauded the initiative as another example of the good work the MTA was doing at beaches.

He said he had ordered the tourism authorities to investigate five photos of an unidentified three-star hotel in Sliema that were sent to a German tabloid, Bild, by a 21-year-old woman who came to study English in Malta.

The photos revealed an old dirty bathtub dripping with rust, a dirty backyard full of rubbish and stained bed linen.

Members of the enforcement unit within the tourism authority identified the hotel from the photos and paid a surprise visit yesterday afternoon where they inspected all 106 rooms.

Initial investigations revealed the photos were probably taken last year, the tourism authority said.

In the meantime, all the bathrooms had been changed and the other rooms were undergoing a "full maintenance programme" after the hotel received several warnings from the enforcement unit.

The authority planned to contact Bild to clarify a number of issues, the MTA said.

The problem of lack of standards in three-star hotels had long been raised by Dr de Marco, especially after these fared badly in a number of satisfaction surveys compiled by tourists.

"I know there are a number of three-star hotels that have made that leap of quality but there are others which are still stuck in a time warp and these are giving the country a bad reputation," he said.

He urged the hotels to take up government schemes that were specifically designed to improve the tourism product.