Malta is an island with a finite amount of land, and while the Malta government view releasing more land for building, and more properties as the answer to increasing property prices, we believe this is the wrong approach, and in the end more developments could have an adverse impact on Malta's economy. Tourism is an important industry for Malta, and tourists aren't impressed by cranes and construction work while they're trying to relax or go to see Malta's historical sights, and if it's a first visit to the island there's an increased chance that it will be their last, losing the Malta holidays industry repeat business."

This is the view of the Tribune Property Company quoted in the article written by Robert Lee on the Website called Tax-News.com, London on August 30. Lee's article, entitled "Malta's poor infrastructure may deter investors despite property boom", considers the decision by the government to allow developers to utilise more land for building as a negative rather than a positive move. Lee says that despite the island's booming property market, spoiled beaches, poor roads and a bad infrastructure could be costing Malta's economy millions in lost revenue.

Lee quotes the Tribune Property travel guide: "The lack of investment in Malta tourism and the island's infrastructure is turning investors and tourists away to other destinations. At a time when many Mediterranean islands are seeing an increase in visitor numbers, Malta has seen a drop of over 2% in the first six months of 2006 compared to 2005, and unless there's a sharp turnaround in Malta's fortunes as a holiday destination the overall figures for the year as a whole could be even worse."

The Tourism Minister and other top tourism officials have gone on record saying that the extensions to the development building zones are part of the government's efforts to boost tourism! This is very worrying as it shows that those responsible for our tourism policies have not understood the paradigm shift occurring in the tourism industry the world over. They have not really understood that the "golden age" of mass tourism - of unlimited growth and disregard for the environment, of standardised, rigidly packaged products and services - is over.

A new tourism is emerging, sustainable, environmentally and socially responsible, and characterised by flexibility and choice. A new type of tourist is driving it: more educated, experienced, independent, conservation-minded, respectful of cultures and insistent on value for money.

As we continue to destroy more of our country we are making it more difficult for ourselves to attract the growing number of this new type of tourist. We have building contractors who build their own hotels with one hand and destroy tourism with the other as they continue to bury this land under more ugly concrete blocks.

We cannot hope to have a future in the new tourism taking shape worldwide if we continue to choke this country with more buildings and destroy the little countryside we have left. Why would tourists want to come to an overcrowded and overbuilt destination where most of the new urban environment is soulless and undermines our mental and physical health?

The rape of Mellieha

Of course we should stop destroying our country not only for the sake of our tourists but for our sake too. Yesterday week the Coalition of Environment NGOs were right to denounce the further destruction of Il-Wied tal-Madonna in Mellieha and the proposed destruction of Ix-Xaghra l-Hamra at Manikata and Ta' Cenc and Hondoq ir-Rummien in Gozo.

As Mme Roland passed the statue of Liberty on her way to the scaffold during the French Revolution, she cried out: "O Liberty, Liberty, what crimes are committed in your name!" We can shout: "O tourism, tourism, what crimes are committed in your name!"

I am very sad in seeing how my village Mellieha has changed over the last 50 years. The destruction of some of its beautiful valleys goes on. I have campaigned, in and out of Parliament, to stop the further destruction of my village, but most of the time, like my village, I have been on the losing side.

So it was very painful for me in the last few days to receive the following letter I would like to share with you: "What baffled me was the fact that in your excellent articles you have more or less managed to cover every aspect of what is going wrong in tourism and yet you have never mentioned the slow death which is being imposed on Mellieha by two very greedy and ruthless developers who have already abused both sides of the valley and are still insisting on giving the last fatal blow to eradicate Mellieha from the tourism map. When they've finished with Mellieha, your birthplace is going to look like a concrete jungle and instead of a village of unsurpassed beauty it will look like a congestion of high and needless edifices choking the Main Street and the whole village.

"Mellieha deserves a lot better than it is getting and to think that it is locals who are causing it for their financial gain and their pique, it breaks everybody's heart. Why are they being allowed to do it? They are stabbing their own mother who welcomed them in its arms and now they are paying her back by gradually killing every bit of life it has left in it. Surely you can do something about it. You must know the right people to approach to prevent the rape of Mellieha from taking place. I implore you to do something about it, Onorevoli.

"I am an adopted child of Mellieha and I love it dearly but if I do not like it I can always move elsewhere, but where will the old folks who are having their homes sabotaged by these so-called developers go? How can they live their last few days overlooked by leering students watching from their windows? Why should they, anyway? Why should tourists, especially old ones, be pestered by timeshare touts in a stretch of about 30 metres? Why should we keep breathing dust and fumes and suffering unending noise caused by these buildings which have apparently started to be built before even MEPA have given their approval? Why is another Msida valley problem being created in the middle of this beautiful village?"

I cannot and will not ignore this heartfelt cry for Mellieha. Even if I cannot save my village, I don't want more of its blood on my hands. It takes much more than "knowing the right people to approach to prevent the rape of Mellieha from taking place". Those who are now in power actually believe that more building improves our tourism. We have the wrong people in power and they must be changed at the next election if we really want to save our country from further destruction.

evaristbartolo@hotmail.com