Words of wisdom
Published on The Malta Independent on Thursday 21st May 2009 by James A. Tyrrell.
More words of wisdom from the Parliamentary secretary for tourism Mario de Marco (Restaurants must be more price conscious, TMID, 15 May). Obviously the solution to attracting more tourists is not to do something as silly as reducing VAT in restaurants, but to keep pumping the high rates of VAT into the government’s pockets. Oh and don’t forget the proposed extra tax which they are proposing should be paid nightly by tourists.
And another gem, village cores should be made traffic free. What a great idea. Let’s inconvenience the local people and tourists alike! It’s hard sometimes to remember that this is the person who is supposed to be working on behalf of tourists like myself.
If you want to create extra revenue for the government coffers, Dr de Marco, then tax properties which are lying empty year in and year out. If property speculators suddenly realise that they will have to pay for all the ugly shells that are littering the country then perhaps they will spend the time and money to fix them up and put them to use.
As for attracting tourists to Malta and Gozo, the infrastructure to do that is already in place in the history and environmental beauty of the country, coupled with the friendliness of its people. Protect that infrastructure by going up against the developers who want to destroy it. Dismantle that ugly structure at Dwejra which is an ugly scar on an otherwise beautiful area. If you want to know what to do with it you could always dump it just off shore and create an artificial reef.
Or perhaps you could kill two birds with one stone and dump it in the hole in the quay at Hondoq. These are both important tourist destinations which you should be concentrating on putting right. If you don’t protect the tourist infrastructure then what will you have left to market?
More words of wisdom from the Parliamentary secretary for tourism Mario de Marco (Restaurants must be more price conscious, TMID, 15 May). Obviously the solution to attracting more tourists is not to do something as silly as reducing VAT in restaurants, but to keep pumping the high rates of VAT into the government’s pockets. Oh and don’t forget the proposed extra tax which they are proposing should be paid nightly by tourists.
And another gem, village cores should be made traffic free. What a great idea. Let’s inconvenience the local people and tourists alike! It’s hard sometimes to remember that this is the person who is supposed to be working on behalf of tourists like myself.
If you want to create extra revenue for the government coffers, Dr de Marco, then tax properties which are lying empty year in and year out. If property speculators suddenly realise that they will have to pay for all the ugly shells that are littering the country then perhaps they will spend the time and money to fix them up and put them to use.
As for attracting tourists to Malta and Gozo, the infrastructure to do that is already in place in the history and environmental beauty of the country, coupled with the friendliness of its people. Protect that infrastructure by going up against the developers who want to destroy it. Dismantle that ugly structure at Dwejra which is an ugly scar on an otherwise beautiful area. If you want to know what to do with it you could always dump it just off shore and create an artificial reef.
Or perhaps you could kill two birds with one stone and dump it in the hole in the quay at Hondoq. These are both important tourist destinations which you should be concentrating on putting right. If you don’t protect the tourist infrastructure then what will you have left to market?
posted by Hondoq at
9:30 PM
