Watch: Mario De Marco Warns Against ‘Dangerous’ Prioritising Of Maltese Over Tourists At Blue Lagoon
PN MP Mario De Marco sounded a warning against giving Maltese people special privileges over tourists when visiting the Blue Lagoon.
At a Malta Institute of Management debate moderated by Lovin Malta’s Tim Diacono, the Shadow Tourism Minister offered a different perspective to the one provided by his PN colleague Alex Borg.
Borg warned that obliging Maltese people to register in advance to visit the popular Comino bay is a step backwards.
“I can give you a popular approach and say that Maltese people should be allowed, whatever the number, to go to Comino,” De Marco said.
“It makes sense as well, but I think we need to be responsible and say that this will encounter logistical problems.”
“However, we also have to look at it from an environmental point of view – the numbers need to be regulated, whoever the people are.”
“If we can have a system where we regulate that number and give advantage to the Maltese, who ultimately want to go to Comino, then we can try and do that.”
“However, it’s a dangerous argument to make because it can also be applied to situations such as waiting in line for a Mater Dei appointment, catching a bus, and going to a museum.”
“Are we going to say that the Maltese should have priority over tourists when boarding a bus and that the Maltese should have priority over foreigners at Mater Dei? Let’s be very careful.”
De Marco said he agrees with the concept of regulating visitors to the Blue Lagoon, both in terms of safeguarding the environment and of ensuring it provides a quality touristic experience.
However, he questioned the logic behind the Malta Tourism Authority’s new booking system, which divides entry to the Blue Lagoon into four time time slots, with a maximum of 4,000 people allowed at any given moment.
He pointed out that, while an ERA carrying capacity study has yet to be published, Tourism Minister Ian Borg said that an average of 10,000 people visited Comino everyday during July and August last year.
“If my maths is correct, four time slots with a maximum of 4,000 visitor in each one will lead to more than 10,000 visitors a day. I’d like to understand how that figure was reached and why it was felt that 12,000 daily visitors is better than 10,000.”
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