Rip-off culture shock

Some weeks ago The Times reported an incident where a young foreign tourist was treated rudely by a bus driver – as an example of how the tourist industry can be damaged by individual acts of thoughtlessness.

It was clearly regrettable that the young person was not treated well but on the other hand Malta does have a cheap and extensive public transport system which, on the whole, is well-appreciated – and even well-loved by many who associate travelling on a Maltese bus with a little adventure and part of what can be a very pleasurable and memorable “Malta experience”. It was also laudable that the Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism responded so promptly to these concerns.

This incident received a lot of publicity but it does not reflect the real reasons why tourists don’t come back to Malta – and especially the high end tourists with money to spend. The main reason is the increasing systematic, pervasive and cynical rip-off culture which underpins the provision of tourist “services” these days in Malta. Here are two examples.

NNG promotions sold tickets to tourists (and Maltese) via the Agenda bookshops to the Joseph Calleja concert in July but did not tell them that if the concert was postponed and they were booked to leave the island they would not receive a refund of their tickets.

When asked after the event, the agent Maltaticket informed the tourists that this condition is printed on the back of the ticket. The purchasers however received the tickets after they had paid their money and so did not know about the condition when they bought the ticket.

No person would buy tickets with these conditions attached to them if they knew they were leaving the island days after the scheduled date of the concert. When the purchaser tries to phone to pursue the matter, no-one from Maltaticket or NNG promotions answers the phone numbers given or phones back when a number is left on the answer phone.

Most non-package tourists to Malta and visiting business women and men book rental cars in advance over the internet. Most of these contracts inform the visitor that all charges are included in the payment made. When the visitor arrives at the airport it is an entirely different story – with a whole host of different mechanisms used to fleece the unsuspecting visitor.

The most egregious is the fuel scam. Some rental car firms operating at the airport routinely offer a fuel policy which states that they provide a half tank of fuel and the car must be returned empty of fuel. The fuel is then charged for at the airport on top of the payment already agreed for car hire. It is first of all an additional charge of which the consumer has not previously been informed.

Secondly, the car cannot be returned empty, if it is to actually reach the airport, so money is made by the firm on the extra fuel left in the tank. Thirdly, the fuel is charged at way above the local rates so more money is made on the fuel charge which has already been introduced as an “extra” charge at the airport. Fourthly, for those coming on a short business trip to Malta, it is also impossible to use a half a tank of fuel in a weekend so there is always fuel left over, again from which the car rental firm profits.

The Malta tourist industry is not damaged by a few thoughtless individuals who occasionally lose their temper or short change a tourist by a few cents. This can happen in any country. The problem inhibiting real growth in Malta as an attractive modern tourist destination and hub for international business is the systematic entrenchment of contempt for paying customers combined with the attitude that I can get away with anything I want to as nobody is going to do anything about it in Malta.

For a country which has always been able to pride itself on maintaining decent human, family and community values and morals and which is why, at the core of it, Malta is so attractive to many non-Maltese, these developments are terribly counter-productive for the society as well as for business, as well as very sad.