This little Maltese island has served as a backdrop in movies and sequence such because the rely of Monte Cristo, Troy and even briefly in Recreation of Thrones. The Blue Laguna in Comino was already a properly -known cinematographic jewel, however social networks have brought on their recognition to shoot with vacationers, since its vibrant iridescent waters started to draw vacationers all over the world looking for the right photograph.
The three km islet for five km is a photo voltaic baked rock slab surrounded by good good turquoise water and was an nearly empty shelter within the Maltese archipelago. However as we speak is a unique story. “It’s on the high of the lists of needs of many guests once they attain the Maltese Islands,” Rebecca Millo, head of Advertising and marketing and Company Communications of KM Malta, the nation’s nationwide airline, informed BBC. “Many individuals simply wish to go instantly.” The issue with that, in accordance with Colin Backhouse, who runs a preferred Fb web page, Malta Vacation Experiences, with greater than 51,000 followers, is Blue Lagoon and Comino is totally exaggerated in the summertime months.
The vivid blue lagoon of Comino attracts tens of 1000’s of holiday makers worldwide and descends extra in the summertime months for a dip within the waters which might be stuffed so full you can barely transfer and far much less discover a place within the surrounding rocks to take a seat.
Backhouse informed the BBC: “It is great out of season, however in summer season? You could not pay me to get nearer. It is hell on earth.”
Shoulder shoulder crowds are push for house, rubbish spills of overflowing containers and fight slats that assault music exploit music and go away a hint of environmental injury.
Within the season from December to February, the waters of the bay barely disturb. The coast is silent, the unpaid coast.
Mr. Backhouse continued: “I visited for the primary time in 1980. At the moment, you might have all of the place for your self. Sadly, I’ve seen the destruction first hand over the many years. I actually do not know why individuals get extra upset.”
Disillusioned guests comply with get as far as to name the journey expertise of a Malta day as a “rip-off.” Overpopulated ships, restricted comforts and the worsening of environmental degradation have led to rising strain on the authorities to behave.
In 2022, an area group referred to as Movimenti Graffiti took the matter in their very own palms stripping the island of their solar loungers and Mondays in what they noticed as an exploitation of public house to acquire non-public earnings. His message was clear that Comino needs to be protected, not looted.
Now, for the summer season season of 2025, in an effort to cease mass tourism and relieve strain on the islet, which is a delegated web site of Natura 2000, the Maltese authorities introduce a day by day restrict of holiday makers, which reduces the quantity of vacationer ridges of 10,000 to five,000.
Mark Sultana, CEO of Birdlife Malta, mentioned: “The limiting numbers are a great begin. However we want a public sustainability plan that not solely focuses on the management of the gang, but additionally in preserving the delicate cumin ecosystem. We insist that it ought to have a ticket management system the place you possibly can solely challenge a restricted variety of tickets daily.”
The Vacationer Information of Malta, Joanne Gatt, listens to a recurring criticism of vacationers: visiting the small island just isn’t the expertise for which they registered. “They’re ready for paradise and are disillusioned,” she says. “Overcrimado, chaotic. Hopefully the guests’s cap mark an actual distinction.”
All through the Mediterranean, governments are hardening the laws to fight abandonurism. Venice has launched entry charges for Daytrippers, whereas Athens has restricted the day by day numbers of holiday makers to acropolis. These adjustments point out a broader impulse to extra sustainable journeys.