Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
extent obscured by a number of dynamic pro-
cesses. Most notable of these are:
encouragement and promotion (Markwick,
1999, 2000, 2001). Such a policy has, how-
ever, led to environmental conflicts involving
both the natural resources and residents of the
islands, exacerbating social and environmental
pressures, in terms of:
the increasing incidence of retirement
immigration, particularly from the UK, with
migrants being both participants in, and
recipients of, visiting friends and relatives
tourism (Williams
et al
., 2000); and
●
traffic congestion pinch-points;
●
new housing appears to have contributed
much more to land-take than has new
tourism development (Ministry of Tourism,
1999; Planning Authority, 2001), but an
unknown number of new apartments and
houses are used by Maltese as second homes,
by returning émigrés, by international tour-
ists, and by retirement immigrants.
tourist congestion and intrusion at cultural
sites;
●
●
excessive land-take at key locations for
luxury hotels;
●
land and water demands for golf courses;
and
●
the space demands and marine pollution
impacts of marina development.
●
Certainly, as tourism has grown, it is clear
that resulting increased physical congestion
both on the country's roads and on its beaches
has become less acceptable (Boissevain and
Theuma, 1998) (Fig. 16.2). The country's 1989
tourism master plan called for the development
of higher quality tourism and for the encourage-
ment of winter and spring attractions to reduce
the high level of seasonality of international
arrivals. As a result, sports such as diving and
golf,
Critically, such continued encroachment
on the Maltese people's own leisure space
has been seen to echo colonial times when the
British administration prevented public access
to large areas of rural Malta (Boissevain and
Theuma, 1998, p. 114-115). Notably, the pro-
motion of golf tourism requires the diversion of
scarce water resources and valuable land-take
(Planning Authority, 1997; Markwick, 2000).
On the other hand, logistical and moral
conflicts have arisen as a consequence of
foreign tourists visiting the countryside and
alongside
cultural
and
rural
tourism,
were
given
a
higher
level
of
development
Fig. 16.2.
The Maltese islands: distribution of tourist areas and cultural sites. Source: Attard and Hall,
2004 (compiled by Maria Attard).
