One Billion Tourists, One Billion Opportunities is the theme chosen for World Tourism Day 2015. To celebrate the day, on the initiative of the six-dive shops that operate from Marsalforn, in collaboration with the Ministry for Gozo, teams from the centres cleaned areas of the seabed in Marsalforn.

The Atlantis Diving Centre, Calypso Diving Centre, Scuba Kings Dive Centre, Bubbles Dive Centre, Gozo Aquasports and Nautic Team Gozo, all took part in this event for the second consecutive year.

The divers collected an assortment of waste from the seabed ranging from plastic bottles, cans, iron and much more, all of which can cause damage to the marine environment, as well as portraying an ugly side to the island of Gozo.

The Ministry for Gozo said that the diving industry is very important industry for the islands, attracting a large number of tourists annually.

He added that statistics collected from the Malta Tourism Authority show that around 30,000 tourists travel to Gozo every year for diving. This means that more than 20 per cent of tourists to Malta travel on to Gozo for their diving holiday, while 64 per cent of other tourists staying in Malta, visit Gozo on a day trip for the purpose of diving. Several dive sites are very important including Dwejra, Mgarr ix-Xini, Hondoq, Xlendi and Marsalforn, the Minister said.

Present for today’s clean-up activity was the Minister for Gozo Dr Anton Refalo, who said said that our seas have plentiful economic opportunities. The Minister reiterated that it nevertheless implies that we must take responsibility for the environment.

The Minister thanked all those who participated in the clean-up and urged everyone to keep Gozo cleaner.

Photograph: MGOZ/George Scerri

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