The furore that erupted last year over empty sunbeds taking up prime space on beaches seems to have had little impact on operators, who have already started laying out deckchairs even if they are not rented.

A number of sunbeds were set up all over Golden Bay as early as 9am.

At the time, the bay was almost empty, with only a few tourists soaking up the sun.

Despite this, a number of sunbeds were placed strategically close to the shore.

Sunbeds were all over Golden Bay by 9am

Most of them remained unoccupied for the best part of the morning, with beachgoers forced to find space around them.

Last year, the Malta Tourism Authority had to take action after it emerged operators hogging large areas of local beaches by installing unrented sunbeds and umbrellas  was rife, especially in Comino.

Following the spate of complaints, the MTA had its officials monitoring beaches to ensure that no sunbeds or umbrellas were placed before they were rented.

For smaller beaches, such as those on Comino, the officials also ensured that concession limits were observed.

By August last year, deckchair and umbrella operators at the Blue Lagoon in Comino had been fined €11,500.

In recent years, a similar problem was reported at Għadira Bay.

Questions sent to the MTA on whether it was aware of the situation and what action it would take to ensure the problem was not repeated this summer remained unanswered by the time of writing.