About three months ago, a tourism expert warned that Malta had reached saturation point in tourism, arguing that the island would not be able to handle more than 1.7 million tourists annually.

Malta’s tourism authority chief has a different opinion. He holds the island can attract up to 2.8 million tourists annually if August arrivals are replicated in the remaining months. Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis too believes that Malta can take more than 1.7 million tourists.

The argument over how many tourists the island can take was raised yet again at a business breakfast organised by The Business Observer.

There are two strong forces at play, those who believe the island can take more tourists than it is getting now and those who hold that Malta should go for quality tourism.

It would have been better were the island to have one common goal. The side that calls for quality tourism, championed by Alfred Pisani, who heads the Corinthia Group, has the stronger argument, for clearly there is a limit to how many tourists a very small place like Malta can take.

Can Malta draw up to 2.8 million tourists annually? It can, particularly if, at it has been argued, there are some places, such as Gozo, that can well take more tourists if their infrastructure is improved.

But at what cost can this be done? It is already getting increasingly difficult finding trained staff to work in hotels and restaurants. How can the island possibly cope with a sharp rise in the number of tourists over and above what the island is drawing at present without jeopardising quality even further?

Even as the situation stands today, standards are falling, not rising. Environmental degradation of the worst kind is there for all to see, and in many places the prospects of reversing the situation is nil. To make matters worse, the country has a government that is threatening to make the environment even worse than it is already.

With the high winds the country has been having lately, Malta at times appears like a dust bowl. Mediocre restaurant service, excessive noise, clutter, dirt, and chaotic traffic are steadily damaging Malta’s image as a tourist resort.

If the island keeps going for numbers, as it is doing now, the likelihood is that standards will continue to fall, making Malta a third- rate tourist destination. Is this the way we want to go? Most will say definitely not, which is why Alfred Pisani’s argument is stronger.

It most certainly is wise for Malta to go for quality tourism but the way ahead is long and strewn with difficulties, mostly arising from a mentality that goes for grabbing what is available today without giving a thought for tomorrow.

Going for quality is not something that can be done overnight. It is a process that requires change in the country’s mindset, a change that the island would need to work hard at all the time until we reach the required benchmark.

There may be room to “improve” further the tourist arrival figure, as the minister has put it, but, again, there is ultimately a limit to what the island can draw, and that limit is not very far off from what we are getting today. Is it not therefore better to think ahead and start working for higher quality all round now?

In reality, Malta has no choice for if it does not go for quality, the alternative is greater mediocrity.