Six beaches awarded Blue Flag status

Five bays in Malta and one in Gozo have been awarded the Blue Flag status. They are the Riviera Bay in Għajn Tuffieħa, St George's Bay, the Bugibba perched beach, Ghadira, Qawra point and the Ramla l-Hamra.

Another three beaches, namely Golden Bay, Fond Ghadir and the private bay at the Paradise Bay Resort Hotel in Cirkewwa were awarded the beach of quality award.

Giving details of the awards, Tourism Minister Mario de Marco said that one of the criteria to achieve blue flag status was the bathing water quality.

In the past four years, the government invested €108 million in the building of drainage treatment plants making Malta the first country in the Mediterranean to treat all its drainage before this is dumped into the sea.

The beach of quality award was given to those beaches which satisfied 70 per cent of the blue flag beach criteria.

The work for the beaches to get the blue flag award is coordinated between the government, the Malta Tourism Authority and the Gaia Foundation.

The MTA managed four of the six beaches awarded the blue flag and financially assisted Gaia in the management of the other two – the Riviera and Ramla l-Hamra.

In all, the MTA invested around €700,000 in beach management including lifeguards, sand sifting, supervision and water quality tests.