The invasion of Malta

With a population of 420,000 and a limited space of 112 square miles, Malta has very limited space to offer to tourists, but nonetheless, an estimated 200,000 tourists are presently vacationing on our small island. That is half of the Maltese population, which also means good business for hotels and restaurants and other souvenir shops and entertainment places. This is the shut-down season for many establishments, as well as the Ferragosto holiday time in Italy when the Italians leave their homes and head to the beaches and mountains and recently, to the Maltese islands with their Fiats, Lambrettas and Alfa Romeos. An Internet technician just this weekend was saying that more than half of the IT traffic going on in Malta right now is coming from foreigners. This means all the contacts being made through Iphones, cell-phones, Ipads and Internet browsing is predominantly being done by tourists and foreigners who happen to be vacationing here right now. And this in an island where there are more mobile phones than people, and where Internet use is one of the highest in the European Union. The presence of cruise liners is also very significant, even though the visitors stay only one day and move on to other destinations.