Was the idea of giving free ferry tickets to Gozo worth €250,000 of taxpayers’ money? That really depends on whether you think of it as an attempt to lure people to Gozo that weekend or see it as a taster which will entice Maltese to return over the longer term.
It was reported that 14,000 is the normal level for a peak weekend – but that an additional 14,000 took up the free ticket offer.
Perhaps the best place to start would be to understand who the extra 14,000 were: It would be safe to assume that normal weekend visitors include a high percentage of regulars, including those who own property on the sister island. This means that the additional 14,000 would very likely have included many who do not go to Gozo that often – if ever.
From this point of view, the initiative would have been aimed at showcasing how much there is to do on the sister island, which has seen a tremendous blossoming over the past decade of everything from restaurants and wine bars to museums and festivals.
What impact has this had? The number of passengers crossing between the islands has increased by just 15 per cent between 2006 and 2012, reaching 4.1 million. But given the increase in tourists over those years, 15 per cent is not that significant for Maltese.
The fact that all it took to encourage people to try it out was a free ferry ticket is astonishing. There is nothing that entices the Maltese as much as a bargain – let alone something for free. And the extraordinary weather must certainly have played a role.
But surely the question should be: Why are there still so many Maltese who hardly ever go to Gozo? Surely the cost of a ferry ticket would not deter them?
If the ferry crossing itself is the obstacle, this weekend would hardly have turned them into loyal Gozophiles. The experience would have been sour enough to make many people promise themselves: “Never again!”
The infrastructure cannot support that sort of pressure, with hours-long traffic jams at either end, long waits for the ferry and restaurants running out of food. There will be many who would argue that if there were ever an initiative which showed the need for a permanent link, this was it. Few Maltese feel it is worth the effort to cross over just for the day (which they might do if there were a bridge or tunnel) – and the total cost of a weekend then has to compete with the cost of going for an overseas break, which many people say wryly can actually be cheaper.
So again, was the money well spent? Gozo Business Chamber president Michael Grech spoke about the revenue generated for the government from the additional expenditure, but the truth is that this is merely diverted expenditure.
Families do not spend more on food and drinks merely because they are in Gozo. Gozo’s gain is Malta’s loss. There is nothing wrong with that: Quite the contrary. It’s the Gozo Ministry’s duty to do what it can to boost economic activity there.
But did it merit €250,000 of taxpayer’s money? The point is that these initiatives do not work in isolation.
It is clearly not sustainable to repeat the “offer” but time will tell whether those who have not been enticed by opera festivals, the Nadur carnival, diving, farmhouse holidays or countryside walks, will actually ever go back. If not, the exercise will have been pointless.