Confronting the tourist industry in Malta

Abstract

The past three decades have seen an exponential growth of tourism along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. This tourist boom has been an important element, if not the principal motor, of the rapid modernization of much of the area. Tourism has created employment for thousands and new opportunities and wealth for many. The relative affluence of the coastal tourist zones attracted new settlers. Tourists and new residents brought new ideas, customs and values into the region. Modernization, affluence, mass tour, ism and migration to the coast generated frenetic building activity, urbanizing much of the accessible coast. These developments taken together have led to environmental degradation, crowding, pollution, the destruction of monuments and familiar landscapes. The changes and the ever growing pressure of mass tourism assaulted the social fabric and collective heritage of the indigenous population.