What Gozo really needs to prosper

It appears the Gozo airstrip bandwagon is back in the press. It’s amazing the list of woes that have befallen Gozo since it lost its “viable and valuable air link”, a list of woes, which will, of course, all magically disappear once an airstrip has been built on the island.

The Gozo Airlink Group mentions daytrippers viewing Gozo from the top of a bus as if this were some sort of disease.

Don’t they realise that the buses stop in villages where the daytrippers walk around and usually spend money in the process? At the same time, does it not occur to them that day trippers are unlikely to pay for an air transfer to Gozo?

It would also be interesting to know in what way an airstrip on Gozo will halt the monolithic apartment blocks.

They say that a survey run by a University student shows that there is a demand for such an air link.

Did the student have access to costings and ask respondents whether they would be ready to pay handsomely for the service on a regular basis? No! Nor did they mention the fact that several surveys have been done in the past, all of which showed that any such air link would not be financially sustainable.

Next we have the feasibility study by aeronautical experts declaring that the project would help Gozo’s commercial and tourism sectors. This does not tally with the recent interviews of foreigners in Gozo who all declared that they go to Gozo for the peace and quiet while an airstrip means waving both peace, and these tourists, goodbye once the noise of aircraft landing every hour can be heard all over Gozo.

This group appears to resent the fact that the Malta Tourism Authority has called for a financial viability study to be carried out, seeing it as a waste of money. Do they really expect a government to commit to such a project in the hope that enough people use it to make it financially sustainable without having first studied the feasibility?

They then ask if it is going to take a change of government for the scheme to be launched. What exactly do they mean by that? Have they been in talks with the Labour Party already regarding the building of an airstrip? Has the Labour Party stated that if they gain power they would sanction such a project? I think the people of Gozo deserve an answer in that regard from the Labour Party.

Their idea that the government should simply ignore all past studies, build an airstrip and then hope that some airline will run a service shows their total disregard for the taxpayer and the island of Gozo. The economy of Calypso’s Isle does not depend on an airstrip. It depends on the Maltese government treating it with the respect it deserves and implementing business incentives to draw job-creating service companies to Gozo.

It depends on the government attracting today’s tourists by finally implementing the eco-Gozo policy that they have been trumpeting since the last election. The further scarring of the little island by an airstrip is totally against any eco-island policy in the same way as a marina at Ħondoq would be.