Foreign tourists are lured to Malta with glossy images of spectacular views and picturesque villages. Unfortunately, at St Julian’s the reality does not match the hype.

When the newly-arrived tourist emerges from his hotel at St Julian’s or Paceville, the first thing he’ll notice are the numerous cranes looming over the skyline. At Spinola Bay, near the Love monument, whether he looks behind him or to the left side of the bay, he’ll see a confused jumble of buildings piled up on top of each other with no planning or design.

If the tourist decides to cross from the promenade to the shady side of the street, he’s faced with a dreary succession of real estate offices. He’ll see no retail shop to break the monotony of the street. His walk along the street will be obstructed with scaffolding and four construction sites, including two gigantic cranes, around which he’ll have to make detours through the traffic-jammed street.

The tourist will conclude that St Julian’s, promoted in brochures as Malta’s ‘tourist hub’ is, in fact, Malta’s construction hub.

In September, work will start on another major construction project on the same pavement facing Spinola Bay. A house of character, with a typical Maltese facade and an elevated parapett in front of it, together with another house at the back of it, will both be demolished to make way for a massive nine-storey apartment block.

While our forefathers built attractive two-storey houses on a modest scale, today’s property owners build apartment blocks that look like concrete monoliths.