These days the news cycle is short and people’s attention spans are even shorter. For many people, the Panama Papers revelations have – unfortunately – become old hat, and Ira Losco’s magic coat and her chances of bringing back Eurovision gold is the topic du jour.

This has always been the case – in all countries. Way back in 1972, the economist Anthony Downs wrote: “American public opinion rarely remains sharply focused upon any one domestic issue for very long – even if it involves a continuing problem of crucial importance to society.”

He described the ‘issue attention cycle’ as going through stages. It starts with the ‘alarm­ed discovery’ stage when the public is made aware of the problem. Then there’s the point where the public starts realising that the cost of ‘solving’ the problem is high and would also require sacrifices by the population.

In the Maltese scenario, we’d have to find a way of overcoming fierce, tribal loyalties and accepting the fact that Konrad Mizzi should no longer form part of the Cabinet – and neither should anyone with that kind of connection to offshore havens.

We’d also have to enforce higher standards of probity and integrity from our politicians. And most of all, we’d have to be ready to withdraw our electoral support if they don’t abide by those standards.

If the public isn’t ready to do that, then we’re at the fourth stage of the cycle where interest in the issue wanes and many switch focus. From there, it’s a short step to the rele­gation of the issue to the ‘twilight realm’ where the issue still gets attention from time to time, but is unlikely to hold the public attention it did before.

The only way to effect any change is to persevere, even when the going gets rather wearying

Social media accelerates the cycle and makes it easier to move on to the next tidbit of information. The only way to effect any change is to persevere, even when the going gets rather wearying. Otherwise we shouldn’t complain if nothing ever changes (except our Eurovision song entry).

• The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association is making whiney, snuffly noises about Airbnb again. The increasingly popular Airbnb is an online system for short-term rentals. It’s user-friendly and hassle-free and offers some measure of diversity in the accomodation sector. If you’re tired of staying at bland, massive corporate-look hotels with their samey carpets and being fleeced off for the privilege of doing so, you can choose (always the operative word) to stay at any of one of the many different weird and/or wonderful places on Airbnb.

People list a varied arrays of spaces – room in their house, a whole villa or even a yurt. Besides being convenient and offering choice, there’s a customer-review facility, so you can see what other visitors thought of their experience. Of course, no system is safe from fake reviews, but with a bit of common sense and a look at the photographs of the places listed, it’s fairly easy to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Perhaps the greatest plus point of Airbnb is that it provides a platform for individuals to earn money by utilising the resources they already have at their disposal. They can rent out a room, an attic or a basement without having to buy or gobble up new land. It’s a very democratic form of micro-entrep­re­neurship – even those who do not own vast tracts of land or huge hotels can earn money in this way.

Airbnb is also empowering, as people earn money without having to employ themselves. It’s a trickle-up system – as opposed to a trickle-down system where we depend on a few hoteliers and power-players to employ others, and thereby giving them a lot of clout.

Best of all, Airbnb encourages the sus­tainable use of resources, namely the use of pre-existing property and land. So it makes perfect sense to encourage the take-up and use of Airbnb in a place like Malta, where there are very few unbuilt-up areas, let alone for these megadevelopments being made out to be vital to the survival of the hospitality economy.

The MHRA realises there’s no way it’s going to manage to quash the Airbnb phenomenon. So instead it’s grunting about a level playing field for all, licensing requirements and the unfairness of an unregulated sector.

I’m all for level playing fields but this talk of preferential treatment is a bit rich coming from the local hotel industry, which has been benefitting from preferential treatment for years.

Hotels have been given prime real estate concessions along Malta’s shores for ridiculously low prices. Planning laws favour hotels – they will now be allowed to add more floors to their existing structures. For years, hotel and tourist complexes enjoyed the advantage of capping on electricity and water consumption billing. The Malta Tourism Authority spends tax money on promoting hotels. Malta Enterprise rolls out subsidy schemes for hotel and restaurant refurbishment plans.

Hotels may be licensed and regulated but we still hear horror stories about the state of some of them. All this is documented online, showing that licensing and regulation do not necessarily equate to better services.

So, if it’s going to be a level playing field, let it be a level playing field for all – and not one for selected industries that have been benefitting all along.

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt

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