Malta is dependent on tourism in order to improve its national economy ... as I was surfing I came across an article which discusses the impact of tourism on the maltese environment ... tourism shouldn't be seen only as a negative impact but also the Maltese should find the best way to reduce the damage provided by this important economic activity.
Building of tourist accommodation, notably hotels and blocks of flats, has increased at a very rapid rate as a result of intensive development in certain areas. The St. Paul’s Bay area and the Sliema/St. Julians area have been completely transformed because of such development. Other negative outcomes of this development include the intense noise arising from construction activity, the vast amount of waste material and dust from demolished structures and from excavations. Newly developed tourist structures, sometimes forming a whole village, have also obliterated habitats in the Maltese countryside.
One can add here additional negative impacts associated with aesthetics, especially where new high rise concrete structures have replaced beautiful traditional Maltese houses. Moreover, since lime-stone is used extensively in building, ancillary activities in quarrying has given rise to unsightly scars in many parts of the Maltese islands, besides causing considerable environmental damage to natural habitats and water tables.
One can add here additional negative impacts associated with aesthetics, especially where new high rise concrete structures have replaced beautiful traditional Maltese houses. Moreover, since lime-stone is used extensively in building, ancillary activities in quarrying has given rise to unsightly scars in many parts of the Maltese islands, besides causing considerable environmental damage to natural habitats and water tables.
The sewage network in Malta is very heavily taxed by the native population alone. The relatively large number of tourists intensifies this problem. The outcome of this is that in recent years a number of popular bays were closed for swimming due to sewage pollution. This has caused considerable discomfort associated with foul smells and inability to swim in the bays, and perhaps more importantly, it has damaged marine and coastal life and induced an accumulation of toxic substances in marine organisms. Household wastes is a very big problem in Malta, and tourism has of course accentuated it. One of the commonest sights in Malta are overfilled rubbish bins, and huge waste disposal areas within a short distance of residential centres.
High tourist densities. As already explained, Malta is very densely populated, even without tourism. Tourism has intensified the use of transport, beaches, and other entertainment and cultural facilities. This congestion not only creates discomfort for the local residents, especially those living in tourist areas, but has additional side-effects, including destruction of beach habitats (especially the sand dunes), trampling on fragile habitats in the country side, and over-visitation rates in fragile archaeological sites.
Although tourism is often associated with environmental degradation, it should be kept in mind that non-tourism activities also have major negative impacts on the environment, and therefore the identification of environmental harm by tourism need not be a case for alternative forms of development. In Malta, for example, the manufacturing industry, with its reliance on machinery, fuel, and water consumption, may at times be more environmentally unfriendly than tourism. The ship-repair industry, which uses considerable amount of grit in sandblasting, and the agriculture industry, with its reliance on pesticides, also cause irreversible environmental damage in Malta. To be sure, no economic activity is environmentally neutral, and tourism is not always the worst culprit in this regard.
Some Environmental and Cultural Benefits of Tourism
Having listed a number of dangers, and the list is by no means exhaustive, it is pertinent to emphasise a number of positive points associated with the impact of tourism on the environment.
Tourists who come to Malta are often more environmentally aware than the local residents. Dumping waste in residential areas and littering the beaches is associated more with Maltese residents than with tourists. Building without any aesthetic and environmental considerations is more common in domestic residences than in hotel and tourist complexes. Most tourists visiting Malta, come from Western European countries, where economic affluence and stronger civic awareness has enabled the local population to assign more importance to environmental protection than is the case in Malta.
Certain traditional arts and crafts of the Maltese Islands, such as lacemaking and filigree work, have been revived because of demand from tourists.
Malta is renowned for its wealth of historical and archaeological heritage, which, before the advent of large scale tourism, were probably not appreciated enough. The places of cultural importance are, even now, more valued by tourists than by the locals, probably because the local residents take this patrimony for granted.
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