Tourists and the environment - the MHRA survey

Abstract

As a society we have become more aware of prevailing trends. Hence, we resort more frequently to surveys to give us a snapshot of how we really are or a yardstick by which we can measure our behaviour. Recently, the results of a MHRA survey carried out among 1,700 departing tourists between March and August were published. I am disappointed to see that, rather than acknowledging that the results of such a survey should worry us, some of us still manage to put on a brave face. In particular, while the pride of most of us was still reeling from the fact that 53,000 of those interviewed said they would not recommend our island as a holiday destination and 137,000 said they would not consider visiting the islands again, the government media chose to be quite upbeat about the findings and their news bulletins headlined that only 14 per cent of the interviewed tourists considered the environmental situation in Malta to be bad overall.