Malta seems to be setting records for musical events as well as around ten thousand youths from the United Kingdom have attended Lost & Found, with an estimated economic injection of around eight million according to the Tourism Minister, Konrad Mizzi. This was the fifth time that this musical event was held. This was held with the input of the Malta Tourism Authority.
In a nutshell, Lost & Found is a four-day event which took place in a number of localities in Malta which include Qawra, Armier and Torri l-Aħmar.
Apparently, this is part of Malta’s strategy as Konrad Mizzi has highlighted that the government is keen on organising such events and attracting the respective audience segments. Such events boost the economic and touristic aspects of Malta. It is emphasised that festival tourism is important as it can help extend our touristic season by a good couple of months.
Naturally, with such large parties, the main concern for many would be security. In this respect, the Minister highlighted that the Malta Tourism Authority will cooperate with the necessary entities such as the Police to ensure compliance with Malta’s laws. Prior to the event, one of the organisers emphasised that drug usage will not be tolerated. In this regard, an unfortunate incident took place on the evening before the start of the festival. Five youths were stopped, investigated and arrested by the police upon their arrival from Luton. Two of these youths were accused of drug trafficking and news reports highlight that they were carrying drugs combining together a value of a hundred and twenty thousand Euro if sold on the streets. The accused admitted to carrying drugs and attempting to import them to Malta. The different drugs included ketamine, ecstasy powder and cocaine. Both were sentenced to four years of imprisonment.
On the other hand, we’ve had another two youths who went on a flight drunk and apparently made fools of themselves, causing a major inconvenience to the passengers onboard. Both were fined a thousand and five hundred Euro. On another plane, a fight broke out, which caused distress to the surrounding passengers. This led to a group of intoxicated tourists getting arrested. The matter is now being handled by the police as such behaviour must definitely not go unpunished!
All these episodes raise another important argument. Are these the kind of tourists we want coming to Malta? Delinquents and those who do not think twice before engaging in criminal activity?
What are your views on such festivals? Should Malta aim to further promote such events?
