[attach id=258276 size="medium"]Tourism Minister Karmenu Vella last night. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi[/attach]
Culture Parliamentary Secretary José Herrera said yesterday the Government was toying with the idea of having three carnivals a year.
Addressing the second session of a Government public consultation meeting with members of the Cabinet at Castille, Dr Herrera said that, following meetings with various people involved in the sector, he would be making a proposal to Cabinet to have a traditional carnival in winter, a full-carnival with floats in May and a mini-carnival in summer.
Carnival, he added, was one of his top priorities in the cultural sector and the Government intended to boost this “popular culture”.
Welcoming Dr Herrera’s initiatives, George Zahra, a household in carnival circles, said that the May edition should be held over two weekends and “more ideas will be transmitted to the Government shortly”.
Dr Herrera, who went to the well-attended dialogue meeting with Tourism Minister Karmenu Vella, said the Government would also be taking initiatives where censorship was involved.
He spoke of the possibility of enacting a new law allowing for the screening of “adult” shows that might be objectionable to certain strata of society.
Without specifying, he said that “pornography” could be allowed in certain “controlled” environments.
A variety of suggestions and ideas came from the floor, some controversial, such as the banning of foreign workers at restaurants, who, some felt, were giving a bad service that was harming Malta’s tourism product. A change of foreign management members at Air Malta was also suggested.
Many mentioned the need to continue to invest in local councils and suggested that mayors should become full-time employees.
Mr Vella said that tourism was an area where the Government intended to continue building on what was inherited from the previous administration.
He said the Government considered Air Malta to be a pillar of the tourism industry and wanted to tread carefully where it came to its management, especially at this delicate moment in the restructuring of the airline.