Malta has come a long way in the culture scene. Gone are the days, thankfully, when the highlight of the summer came in the shape of some Eastern European folk troupe performing to a sea of empty seats.
Maltafest, which eventually spawned the Malta Arts Festival, was conceived to make the island more attractive to tourists at a time when the summer tended to be a cultural desert - the only oasis being Shakespeare at San Anton Gardens.
Since then, mediocre 'C' list performers parading in silly costumes have given way to world-class acts - artists encompassing the entire cultural spectrum, from rock music to contemporary dance. The locals started turning up in droves.
Yet, we have once again witnessed an calendar of cultural events whereby most of this summer's highlights were inexplicably all packed into the month of July, which seems to defeat the purpose.
This year's Malta Arts Festival spanned the first 17 days of July. From the Ballet Nationale de Marseille to Puerto Flamenco to the Globe's Romeo and Juliet, there was something for anybody.
The Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, however, fails to realise that the number of locals and foreigners who are willing to attend, and more importantly fork out €10 to €15 per ticket, is very small indeed.
The programme was so jam-packed into 17 days that even the culture vultures joined in the chorus of disapproval.
Add to that the abysmal publicity for the festival, and one can see why it was a failure in terms of audience participation: Just 45 people turned up for performances such as the acclaimed Music in Motion at the Palace in Valletta on a Saturday night. Tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Julius Drake suffered the same fate. And people had to choose between the jazz fringe and a cello and string orchestra concerts - who performed on the same night.
And there was also the Isle of MTV festival, the Joseph Calleja and Duran Duran concerts, the Farsons Beer Festival, the Marsovin wine festival, the annual MADC Shakespeare production as well as the Victoria Arts Festival.
The thousands who filled Upper Barrakka Gardens last week for the Delicata wine festival showed the thirst for social events throughout the summer. Valletta was packed with both locals and foreigners quite frankly because there was little else on offer apart from a dance festival at Ta' Qali.
A capital city like Valletta should burst to life every weekend, but instead we often see police - enforcing the law it should be said - switching off any cultural or social initiative taken by bar owners.
Despite the push to spread tourism more evenly throughout the year, August and September will always be two of the strongest months. Suffice to say that 176,000 tourists visited Malta in August last year - and not all of them join the hordes of teenagers in Paceville.
With Italians descending for the ferragosto season, are we doing enough to provide cultural entertainment for the masses? Why do we not import a few cultural acts from neighbouring Italy?
Our cultural repertoire must surely go beyond the weekly village feasts - which, unfortunately, sometimes degenerate into petty arguments between rival band clubs - and the odd musical event. Quality events for as long as possible are what will ultimately give tourists more reason to come.