Lack of public access to Selmun Castle

It was with a heavy heart that I have just ascertained that the Selmun Palace Hotel is not open for business. Indeed, I only gleaned this knowledge after a personal visit to the hotel – for who knew? It was further established that the hotel had apparently not been accepting guests for quite some time.

Given this fact, one wonders when precisely was the hotel closed down. Is this on a permanent basis? How was the public made aware of this situation and, more crucially, what has happened to the staff? Given that members of the public are shareholders in this hotel, the answers to these questions should have already been provided and made public, I would have thought.

Moreover, the closure of this hotel has had a negative and detrimental impact on the public’s accessibility, including tourists, to the Selmun Castle, which stands adjacent to the hotel.

For the hotel was the castle’s “keeper of the keys”, so to speak, and access to this magnificent specimen of our cultural heritage was only gained via the hotel’s front desk and a very kind lady who opened the castle doors for the public on request. How many people knew this also? In any event, one of the key conditions for the granting of the lease of the hotel was for readily available public access to the castle along with the upkeep of the castle, with the lessee being none other than Air Malta.

Therefore, there are many more highly germane questions than answers which should be promulgated forthwith and not clandestinely withheld or avoided, especially regarding castle access for the public and its subsequent maintenance.