Deckchairs on Comino will be reduced by 65% this summer

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo told parliament on Monday sunbeds and umbrellas on Comino will be reduced by 65% this summer.

Replying to a parliamentary question by Labour MP Cressida Galea, the minister said government wants to give back the space to the public.

"We did not simply shrink the encroachment areas; we also moved them so that the Blue Lagoon is cleared and is open and available to the public," Bartolo told parliament.

The situation on the island of Comino was put under the spotlight last year when NGO Moviment Graffitti launched a direct action to protest the private concessions blocking access to the public coastline.

Deckchairs and umbrellas have hogged Comino’s Blue Lagoon throughout many a summer. A petition in 2021 asked MPs for “the removal of sun beds and deckchairs from Comino”, gathering over 600 signatures.

The deckchairs were placed on every inch of the shoreline - jetty, beaches and rocks - before the first tourist boats arrive, by private vendors who treat the Blue Lagoon as their own personal beach lido.

The tourism minister said a new shift of beach cleaners and another garbage collection trip will also be introduced on Comino. Boats will now carry garbage three times daily.

He said the managing the waste situation on Comino is very challenging due to the high volumes of people who visit the island and its lack of accessibility. But, the minister said, government will be deploying officials from a number of government entities to supervise.