Nynke Van Ek | Sunday, 30 August 2009

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Forgetting the tourists

The scene at Cirkewwa on Saturday 22 August had to be seen to be believed. Unfortunately I was there, together with a group of foreign guests, as were several of my colleagues and a large amount of cars wanting to make the crossing to Gozo. This is in no way an attack on the people who work at the ticketing booth or on the ships; they have always been very helpful to me. This is for the management and minister(s) responsible (I’m not holding my breath though). Guides and individuals have written, countless times about their negative ferry experiences but that Saturday took the cake.
Saturday is the main excursion day for tourism to Gozo, the peak being between 9am and 9:45am. Add to that the Maltese weekenders, and you get a packed area for foot passengers. There is no protection whatsoever from: (I am sorry to say) countless Maltese who feel they should not have to queue (they are Mal-teee-se, you see); overexposure to the sun; and, once past the control booth, no toilet facilities. Whatever happened to the policeman who used to be there with us to help organise in the unruly individual , in fair and disciplined manner?
Which genius came up with the brilliant idea of building the “temporary wall” (closed on the west side?) for waiting passengers in order to shelter them from the scorching sun? Hello? I learned at school that the sun comes up in the east and hey, imagine that… it still does. We don’t need shelter from the west side because by that time we will be waiting in the air-conditioned terminus at Mgarr, going back to Malta.
Some three summers ago there must have been a great manager at Gozo Channel who sent extra ferries between – yes – 9am and 9:45am on Saturdays (I think I love you but I heard you are not there anymore, whoever you are). We had a great summer with the service from Gozo Channel. Alas, no more. Now we get a mostly unnecessary extra ferry on Thursday; Saturday’s extra one comes after the peak. Lovely!
So, there we all were last Saturday, about a thousand foot soldiers (outside the useless ‘protective’ west wall) and countless cars, watching the 9am leave with our lucky colleagues. No problem… first come, first served. We then waited another 20 minutes and, oh joy, two ferries in one go, berthing at the key. I foolishly consoled my sweating, fainting guests that “Soo-oon, ladies and gentlemen, despair no more; we will be on one of these babies because each can take 900 passengers (unless they don’t work with half a crew). Alas, wrong again. The first one was loaded with one and a half tourists (I swear; and it looked really weird) and the rest being loaded with cars (it pays much more!).
So what about the other ferry that was there? Well, obviously that one was loading a few trucks and also left, with practically nothing. Although we guides do not believe in blowing up in front of a thousand odd tourists, we definitely blew (it) this time. Quick phone call to the manager, who said: “we couldn’t take any clients on board because we are transporting a few vehicles with hazardous material”.
Naturally there shouldn’t be any passenger on a ship with hazardous material but, hey Mr Manager, does that have to be transported on a Saturday between 9am and 10am, peak day and peak hour of tourism for Gozo? In my opinion these sorts of crossings should take place at 5am or 6am, when there are no tourists or unsuspecting Maltese passengers around. Common sense. We waited there for over one hour without any movement taking place in that queue. Bring on the competition!
Years ago when the pier at Cirkewwa was being rebuilt, the ‘temporary, protective’ west wall was also put in place. We assumed this was just that, ‘temporary’. I am pleased with the new Mgarr terminal, although some parts are already crumbling, but it is directly related to service. People who do criticise it do not stand there twice a week in the sun with guests, year after year. We would now like to see this done for your most important economic sector in Cirkewwa. Why didn’t the 65 MPs wait a little longer for their new parliament and instead try and accommodate the almost million or so tourists who make sure this country still has an economy to govern? Beats me!
I thank One News who patiently listened to my very long and furious telephonic recount of events on that particular day and moment and even took time to hear out one of my French guests who, in no uncertain terms and in very verbal English, told him what he thought of Gozo Channel. We also were pleased that PBS reacted to a phone call of a colleague on the Thursday before, when things were already not peachy and asked them to come over on Saturday for some spectacular examples of tourist-sector trashing. And, by Jove, they got their money’s worth. Soon I’ll be able to joke about it but not right now!

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