Drinking in the streets of Paceville may soon stop altogether, following complaints by different stakeholders, the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprise - GRTU said.
Regulations to "completely" ban drinking in the streets, confining it to establishments that have chairs and tables outside, were in the pipeline, the President of the GRTU tourism, hospitality and leisure division, Philip Fenech, told The Times.
The Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, Mario de Marco, acknowledged that a number of complaints had been received by the police from all fronts: hotel owners; tourists themselves on the laissez-faire attitude and the bad image; residents and the St Julians local council. He said a legal notice, or a bye-law on the matter, would be issued soon.
The Malta Tourism Authority was in favour of putting a halt to drinking in the streets as this did nothing to enhance Malta's image, Dr de Marco said.
The fact that Paceville establishments have, over the last five years, been making an effort to forbid underaged persons from entering bars has resulted in their social displacement, with youths creating "eyesore" pockets on the outskirts and in certain areas in the centre, where they sit and drink - from anything but glass containers - in the streets, Mr Fenech explained.
He said the issue was discussed by then Social Policy Minister Dolores Cristina, the MTA from the tourism point of view, and the police, which have received complaints. Consultation on the matter has involved various bodies, including the GRTU, which looked into the effect on retail outlets.
Mr Fenech described the move as "social re-engineering to attain higher standards so that Paceville would not look like a disorganised party. It is healthy to have people gravitating in the area but it does not look good to have pockets of people drinking on ledges and car bonnets," he said.
If there were a feast in the area, a way out would be the possibility of filling in an application for a day, or a week, not to have to abide by the regulations. But streets where no drinking is allowed would be defined, he said.
Mr Fenech said the GRTU would continue talks with the MTA and the police to determine how to raise standards, without having less entertainment than other competing destinations and without doing damage to other segments of tourism that were yielding positive results. Meanwhile, works on Paceville's "dilapidated" main square and side streets would be starting again this week and the number of litter bins will be increased.
The GRTU was also involved in discussions on drinking at St George's Bay by night, which led to other abuse.
Police were supervising the area but things got heavy with the influx of English-language students in summer.