Increasing Crowds of Tourists in Malta Highlights Both Scarcity of Resources and the Opportunities to Make Money Filling the Gap

The central bus stop at the little town of Marsalforn was inundated with a sense of impatience. The dozens of people gathering in the little square could not stop staring at the road leading to the bus stop, as if a more intense stare could get the bus to show up faster. On the mobile app of Malta Public Transport, the bus was shown as a mere 4 minutes away, but with one bus coming every 30 minutes or so, everyone was getting visibly jittery as to whether the small bus could fit everyone in the bumpy journey to the central bus terminal in Victoria, the capital of Gozo Island, only some 6km away. 

From just looking at the statistics, the sight of prospective passengers being irritated with the infrequent bus schedule should not happen. Marsalforn is in a remote corner of Gozo, itself more remote than the main Malta Island that gets the bulk of the incoming tourist crowd in Malta. With a population of only 750 people, the vast majority of whom is the local Maltese population relying on private vehicles for mobility, the infrequent bus service should be a nice addition to the seaside village's narrow streets, rather than an essential element of its transport system.

But as Malta's tourism industry continues to attract international arrivals, even resources that are not supposed to be tourist-centered are becoming so rapidly. Marsalforn's transformation at the ground level shows the impact the tourist crowds can quickly make. This little remote village's waterfront has become home to, by my simple estimation, not less than 15 restaurants, side by side, serving up similar pasta-pizza-grill menu while covering up with chairs and tables every inch of the pavement that has a view of the water. Clearly these restaurants do not serve the small local population.

The fact that Marsalforn's restaurants, small local beach, and the narrow streets near the sea are crawling with holidaymakers show that the tourist strategy is in some ways working, but also the general malaise of how the local infrastructure cannot keep up. The gorgeous sight of the clear water lapping Marsalforn Bay feel ever less relaxing as kids screaming down the beach yelling, adults crowd around the geletaria, and the alcohol flow amidst loud, open conversations at each restaurant. The crowded bus on the way back to Victoria is just one symptom of the inconveniences associated with the wider commercialization.

Looking across the island, it has become clear that, outside restaurants, hotels, and flights, the service industry designed for small populations cannot cater to the needs to the tourists. My local clinic at St. Paul's Bay is staffed by a local doctor who needs to travel to different parts of the day to different clincs around the island so that each community gets its fair share of medical service. However, his presence for a bit more than three hours a day at each local clinic may only be fine without accounting for illnesses among the tourists.

Scanning the local newspapers and social media outlets, and the narrative of "Malta is full" is prominent. Casual conversations with long-time residents of the islands, both local and international, bring stories of how, in the pursuit of easy tourist money, the hospitality industry never bothered to account for the strain on local resources, from the roads to medical care, that their expansion would certainly bring. And even as the hotelliers and real estate developers overhear the grumbling of increased population, they can choose to be indifferent to the anger as long as the anger does not turn into outright banning of tourists.

As the previous blog post made clear, the negative consequences of overtourism is by no means limited to Malta. As policymakers contemplate how to set limitations and boundaries to tourism in a bid to placate local residents while not drawing tourists away, they need to go back to the fundamentals of providing adequate resources. Instead of restricting access to roads and clinics that were designed for small populations, politicians and business leaders need to work together to think about the fair ways to reinvest the profits of the tourist boom to expand resources sufficiently and quickly.

Of course, it will be easier said than done. Roads cannot be widened without knocking down buildings, and finding new doctors are not possible without years of training. But as the influx of tourists increase, laws should be put in place to promote an equally quick and comprehensive import of trained professionals and investment through private enterprises, just so that the opportunities to make money through supplementary services to an increasing population can be known far and wide outside the Maltese islands. Only then can the crowded sights at Marsalforn be not just irritating but financially tempting.