Tag: malta

  • Fatti: Has Defining Femicide In Malta Really Made A Difference?

    Fatti: Has Defining Femicide In Malta Really Made A Difference?

    • Malta’s 2022 reform introduced femicide and misogynistic motives into its Criminal Code, one of the few EU states to do so.
    • However, it has had a limited tangible impact. No court ruling has applied the law so far.
    • Gender-based violence remains pervasive. Domestic violence reports have almost doubled since 2015, reaching 4,439 in 2024. One in four women in Malta reports experiencing intimate partner violence.
    • Convictions remain low. Police issued 17,486 domestic violence charges between 2021 and mid-2025 but secured only 933 convictions, roughly one for every nineteen charges.
    • Delays in the justice system continue to undermine victims’ rights, a human rights case is being prepared.
    • Recent murders reveal persistent failures in prevention and protection. The killings of Bernice Cassar and Nicolette Ghirxi followed prior police reports or warning signs.
    • Gender inequality and institutional gaps remain unaddressed.
    • Progress is visible in awareness and institutional reform, but not yet in outcomes.

    In the wake of the murders of Paulina Dembska and Rita Ellul in 2022, Malta updated its legislation to strengthen punishments for femicide, one of the few OSCE countries to do so.

    Robert Abela at CoE. Photo credit: Council of Europe / Alban Hefti

    “Malta under my watch (…) took the step of introducing the concept of femicide into our criminal code to acknowledge this gender-based crime, raising public awareness and to send a very clear and unequivocal message that there will be no leniency for perpetrators of this horrific crime,” Robert Abela told the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly in June. 

    But have the amendments fulfilled the demands of women’s rights defenders and made a difference on the ground?

    “The state, the country and society did not do all that is required,” Abela told Malta Today in 2022, referring to the murders of Dembska and Bernice Cassar. 

    “These reforms stem from the need and responsibility to respond to what’s happening in our society: from the duty not to ignore anyone’s reality. Only by doing so can we truly represent the people and ensure that what we hear from them in the streets leads to real change and necessary reform. (…) That is what brought us to today’s legal amendments,” Abela told parliament in February 2022 .

    Jonathan Attard. Source: DOI

    He also said, “What we are talking about today makes a difference in the life of each and every one of us.”

    Abela told the diplomatic corps he was ‘particularly proud’ of the femicide law. Meanwhile, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard cited the recognition of femicide as proof of Malta’s “commitment to comprehensive legislative and institutional reforms” at a Council of Europe event this year. 

    What was the amendment about?

    The legal amendment was introduced in June 2022. Now the court must consider several femicide criteria when deciding on a punishment for the homicide of a person of the female gender. 

    These are:

    • Intimate partner violence;
    • Family member violence;
    • Sexual violence or sexual acts;
    • Misogynist motives;
    • Reasons related to honour, reputation, religious or cult practices; 
    • Motives based on the gender, or gender identity, or sex or sexual orientation of the victim;
    • Related to sexual exploitation (including commercial) of the victim.

    “Following the murder of Paulina Dembska there was quite a public outcry, both because of how it happened – the fact that it was very random, there was no connection with her killer, that it took in a public place, and was also very brutal,” lawyer and human rights activist Lara Dimitrijevic, who worked on the wording of the bill, explained to Amphora Media.

    Official data reveals that 3 out of 16 women murdered in gender-based crimes between 2012 and 2022 had previously sought support from the national social welfare agency ahead of the crime.

    The amendments limited the grounds to render femicides excusable when “committed by any person acting under the first transport of a sudden passion or mental excitement”, as formulated in the Criminal Code.

    It also brought the concept of misogyny into law for the first time, which Dimitrijevic described as “quite a win in itself”.

    Lara Dimitrijevic with Owen Bonnici and Edward Zammit Lewis at a presentation of the legal amendments on femicide in 2022. Photo credit: DOI

    But femicide is not an aggravation, which means that the punishment for willful homicide is not increased because it is a femicide; it just cannot be decreased. 

    “I frankly think that [the excuse of sudden passion] should be removed across the board. It’s an extremely old concept that has been removed in many other jurisdictions,” Dimitrijevic said.

    “[The legal amendment will] not create a separate legal offence. Rather, it will encourage the judiciary to take into account violence against women, because they are women, when handing down sentences for the already-existing criminal offence of wilful homicide,”the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) said at the time the amends were discussed. 

    Is this what women’s rights defenders called for?

    The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) considers femicide to be “the most severe forms of gender-based violence” and “recognising it as a separate criminal offence “could bring numerous benefits in terms of awareness raising, prevention and applying the law”.

    In 2022, NCPE said Dembska’s murder was “a wake-up call to seriously examine and address the unequal power relations between women and men in our society.”

    “Gender inequality needs addressing through gender-sensitive policy making and policing as well as the eradication of sexism from all spheres of life, including online and broadcast media, as well as institutionalised sexism,” the NCPE stressed.

    Exhibition on violence against women at the Parliament in 2023. Photo credit: DOI

    By 2024, the NCPE warned that “the deep connection between gender inequality and this pervasive violence, a relationship that remains largely unaddressed”.

    “While the introduction of the femicide law in Malta was a significant step in the right direction, more work needs to be carried out to address the underlying structures that make such violence possible in the first place,” it said.

    In an EU programme, Aleksandar Dimitrijevic (Lara’s husband) representing NGO Men Against Violence, described how the Maltese justice system is “notoriously slow when dealing with cases of domestic and gender-based violence” with two magistrates presiding over 1500 cases of domestic violence as of February 2025.

    According to the EU’s justice scoreboard, Malta has one of the longest estimated time to resolve judicial cases for all crimes.

    In 2022, the Women’s Rights Foundation, which has set up the Observatory on Femicide in Malta, has recommended mandatory training to legal practitioners, court staff and judges dealing with violence against women, immediate and effective protection for victims, better enforcement of protection orders, and GPS monitoring of suspects on bail.

    Lara Dimitrijevic, one of the authors of the report and WRF’s board member, is preparing to initiate a human rights case related to the delayed proceedings on behalf of the family of Chantelle Chetcuti, who was murdered in February 2020.

    “Unfortunately, the judicial process is very lengthy and very burdensome on the victims, i.e. the members of the family. In fact, (…) I will be filing a human rights case on behalf of Chantelle’s family, as we are still awaiting the jury. In the meantime, her mother has passed away. Her father became unwell. Her sister is really suffering, not to mention her children too.”

    “Life went on for [the accused], whereas for this family, life will stop. I argue that this is a breach of their human rights. It’s continuously subjecting them to revictimisation. It’s really affecting their right to private life, because they cannot move on. (…) Some of the members of the family will have to testify again now, after so many years, within a trial by jury.”

    What has happened since?

    Since the femicide amendments were introduced, three women have been murdered: Bernice Cassar, Sandra Ramirez, and Nicolette Ghirxi.

    Bernice Cassar filed multiple domestic violence reports against her estranged husband – the man accused of killing her – up to the day before she was murdered. Just two days earlier, her lawyer had reportedly urged police to take action against him for breaching protection orders.

    In the inquiry into her death, retired judge Geoffrey Valenzia concluded that the “state system” had failed Cassar, citing a lack of court and police resources, as well as the increasing workload faced by magistrates, which led to significant delays in scheduling and hearing cases.

    The accused has since been charged with the murder, and his lawyers reportedly challenged the new femicide law on discrimination grounds.

    Nicolette Ghirxi emailed the police a few days before her murder, expressing concern after encountering her ex-boyfriend, who later died in a standoff with police. She had also reported harassment months earlier, in April, but declined a risk assessment at the time.

    The Police Complaints Board later cleared the officers involved, stating they had acted within their powers and found no evidence of an imminent threat. 

    Sandra Ramirez was reportedly stabbed 26 times by her former partner. When he appeared in court, he attempted to have the femicide charge dropped, arguing it was a “crime of passion”, which was rejected.

    There has not yet been a published court judgement applying the amended legal provisions in an actual case of the murder of a woman.

    “We’ve had more femicides in a short span of time after the introduction of the law. So that, I think, speaks for itself,” Lara Dimitrijevic said.

    Conviction rates remain low

    Data provided by the police shows that between 2021 and July 2025, there were 933 convictions related to domestic violence, compared to 17,486 charges issued during the same period.

    This means that, on average, there has been roughly one conviction for every 19 charges over the past few years.

    “We really need to work much, much harder on the prevention element, both in terms of prosecution and protection,(…)  and to have dissuasive punishments. Very rarely do we see, for example, effective imprisonments in cases of intimate partner violence,” Lara Dimitrijevic said.

    The number of domestic violence charges has also been rising: from 2,929 in 2021 to 4,439 in 2024. 

    According to the 2024 Crime Malta report, a trend of increasing reports has been observed since 2007. However, the growth is mostly attributed to the rise in reports of psychological harm, and stronger awareness may have also played a role. Parliamentary questions filed in recent years reveal that reports of domestic violence to the police have nearly doubled since 2015.

    By July 2025, 2,427 charges had already been filed, as an early warning, this year is also on track to surpass the 4,000 mark.

    Psychological violence has grown the most rapidly

    In 2024, Council of Europe’s experts found that the police have implemented “comprehensive reforms” to address gender-based violence and that “Malta has adopted a more robust multi-agency approach at all levels of decision-making”.

    Who has experienced intimate partner violence?

    According to the Survey on Safety and Well-being carried out in Malta and Gozo in 2022, 19% of men and 26% of women reported having experienced intimate partner violence. For over half, the violence resulted in an injury, and more than half have felt that their life was in danger.

    According to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)’s country report on Malta in 2022, the year the femicide law was introduced:

    • 79% of recorded victims of intimate partner violence were women, and 69% of victims of domestic violence were women.
    • 1,091 men were reported for intimate partner violence against women, and 538 were prosecuted.
    • 1,364 men were reported for domestic violence against women, and 1,210 were prosecuted.
    • The police recorded a greater number of offences of intimate partner violence (1,099) than the number of victims (831). This difference suggests that several women victims were subjected to violence by a partner multiple times in a single year.
    • Between 2020 and 2022, four women victims of intentional homicide were recorded by police. During the same period, police recorded three women victims of intentional homicide committed specifically by an intimate partner;
    • Fluctuations between years can be attributed to various social and institutional factors and do not necessarily imply that violence has worsened in the country over time.

    EIGE notes intimate partner violence is not explicitly defined in Malta’s Criminal Code, and  “no data is available on protection orders for victims of violence” or “on perpetrators sentenced or held in prison for these crimes”. This makes it difficult to assess the extent to which men are brought to justice for violence against women”.

    Malta is one of the few countries that has explicitly defined femicide.

    International experts have noted Malta’s progress at the various stages of addressing violence escalation, from training of police to the definition of femicide in the law. Women’s rights defenders have called for a comprehensive approach to the underlying structures, notably inequality. 

    Malta’s statistics of the number of people affected by intimate partner violence and reports of domestic violence suggest that the issue is widespread and shows no signs of subsiding. Meanwhile, the murders of Cassar and Ghirxi have raised concerns over the police’s ability to prevent femicides before they occur.

    In Malta, the length of proceedings is a repeatedly voiced concern that has not been resolved. According to lawyer and expert Lara Dimitrijevic, an overhaul of the criminal justice system is needed to fully address the issue.

    Politicians’ claims that the femicide law would make a difference are somewhat true. The introduction of femicide is a legal breakthrough. But it is the tip of the gender-based violence iceberg, and the progress in improving the quality of the justice system has been slow.

    This project is supported by the European Media and Information Fund. The sole responsibility for any content supported by the European Media and Information Fund lies with the authors and it may not necessarily reflect the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.

  • Landscape of Change:The Numbers Behind Population And Migration In Malta’s Towns

    Landscape of Change:The Numbers Behind Population And Migration In Malta’s Towns

    By Sabrina Zammit, Julian Bonnici, and Daiva Repečkaitė
    Photo cover: Joanna Demarco

    Over the past decade, Malta has undergone rapid demographic and economic shifts, primarily driven by migration and labour market demand.

    A cross-border investigation by Amphora Media, in partnership with Spain’s Público, examines fifteen localities across Malta and Gozo – grouped into six clusters – to trace how population growth is reshaping communities. 

    The findings show that tensions often stem less from migration itself or the tax revenue migrants generate, and more from inadequate government investment in public services, which affects both citizens and foreigners.

    The clusters are based on geographical proximity. An EU-funded case study of Malta found that migrants prioritise proximity to their workplace when choosing where to live, followed by strong transport links.

    Malta is divided into six districts, which now have regional administrations. Migrant populations are spread unevenly among them. According to the 2021 census, migrants from the EU, non-EU European countries (including the UK) and others were distributed unevenly.

    In proportion:

    • Northern Harbour, which includes Gzira, Qormi, Hamrun, Sliema and St Julian’s, had the highest share of EU citizens.
    • In Gozo, two in five immigrants come from European non-EU countries, such as the UK and Serbia.
    • In the Southern Harbour district, which includes Marsa, Fgura and the Three Cities, nearly two-thirds of the foreign population are non-European or stateless.

    What follows is a statistical breakdown of each locality

    Cluster 1: St Paul’s Bay

    St Paul’s Bay

    St Paul’s Bay has been shaped by rapid population growth and migration. By 2022, it was home to more than 35,000 people, nearly 60% of them foreign nationals—up sharply from less than one in five a decade earlier.

    This shift has also brought greater religious diversity, with Orthodox Christianity, Islam and Hinduism now established alongside the dominant Roman Catholic faith.

    Many dwellings remain vacant or used seasonally, limiting supply of primary residences. 37.3% (8,848) were either vacant or used seasonally according to data from 2021.

    Despite the pressures, St Paul’s Bay remains relatively well served, with 19 bus routes.

    Cluster 2: Marsa, Ħamrun, Qormi and Pietà

    Marsa

    Ħamrun

    Qormi

    The second cluster comprises Marsa, Ħamrun, Qormi, and Pietà, which together had a population of 41,689 in 2022. Foreign residents numbered 10,630, representing around 25.5% of the population, a significant increase from just 2.3% in 2011.

    Marsa is notable for having hosted Malta’s first large reception centre for asylum seekers, in operation from 2002 until April 2024, when its last residents were transferred to Ħal Far. Data suggests that many former residents settled in nearby areas where housing was more affordable.

    Security concerns persist in this cluster. Police reports in both 2017 and 2024 classified Marsa and Ħamrun as high-risk localities. In 2021, theft and property damage were the most frequently reported crimes in Marsa, followed by drug-related offences.

    Cluster 3: Sliema and St Julian’s

    Sliema

    St Julian’s

    In 2011, foreigners accounted for 15% of the combined population of Sliema and St. Julian’s. By 2022, the figure had surged to 52%, underscoring the towns’ pivotal role at the heart of Malta’s international community.

    The area’s employment base is closely tied to the iGaming sector, classified under information and communication, where the average basic salary reached €2,159 in 2022.

    Tourism brochures advertise Sliema and St. Julian’s as coastal resorts offering a wide range of accommodation options, conveniently close to the action. In particular, Paceville is Malta’s premier entertainment hub, with a diverse range of nightclubs and restaurants.

    Cluster 4: Msida and Gżira

    Msida

    Gżira

    By 2022, Msida and Gżira had a combined population of 26,398, with foreign nationals making up 58.4%. In 2011, the share was 10%, a transformation that illustrates one of the steepest demographic shifts in Malta.

    Msida is home to the University of Malta and Mater Dei Hospital, two of the country’s most prominent institutions.

    The locality has long been a traffic bottleneck with congestion around the Marina and Msida Creek impacting air quality, noise levels, and overall accessibility. Works for a new flyover under the Msida Creek Project aim to ease this burden, but the locality remains defined by its role as a transit hub.

    Gżira on the other hand has become increasingly commercial, with “restaurants opening all the time” and Mayor Neville Chetcuti warning that more policing is needed to cope with rising pressures.

    Foreign residents now make up about 60% of the community, a shift that the Mayor described as “obviously, we have the problems that come with that”.

    Housing demand from hotels, Airbnb, and new apartment blocks has also driven up rents to the point where several people now share apartments to afford them.

    Cluster 5: Żebbuġ, Victoria and Munxar (Gozo)

    Żebbuġ (Includes Marsalforn)

    Victoria (Rabat)

    Munxar (Includes Xlendi)

    Cluster 5 comprises the three Gozitan localities with the highest share of foreign residents: Żebbuġ, Victoria, and Munxar. 

    In 2022, their combined population was 12,647, with foreigners accounting for around 30%. Back in 2011, the figure was just 3%, a dramatic shift over little more than a decade.

    Victoria, the island’s capital, serves as Gozo’s commercial and administrative hub. It concentrates the largest share of businesses and services, drawing both locals and newcomers.

    Żebbuġ and Munxar, which include the popular seaside villages of Marsalforn and Xlendi, have become well-known rental hotspots among foreigners.

    Rental affordability plays a role. The median monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in these localities hovers just above €600, significantly lower than in comparable areas on Malta’s mainland. 

    The Żebbuġ mayor, Baskal Saliba, noted that the difference lies in availability as much as price: “In Marsalforn, rent is a bit cheaper and you have many more availabilities… you find many more rental opportunities there compared to Żebbuġ or other villages.”

    Cluster 6: Marsaskala and Birżebbuġa

    Marsaskala

    Birżebbuġa

    The final cluster covers Marsaskala and Birżebbuġa. In 2022, their combined population stood at 29,401, with foreign nationals making up 29.5%. Back in 2011, foreigners accounted for just 12% underscoring how rapidly these southern localities have changed.

    Housing tells a different story in each town: Birżebbuġa remains one of the more affordable seaside options, with two-bedroom rents just over €600, while in Marsaskala prices climb above €800.

    Marsaskala’s Mayor Mario Calleja said local schools now reflect “around 40 different languages,” and the council has leaned into integration, installing a monument to diversity and running community activities. He said, “The most important thing is that we don’t discriminate.”

    When it comes to safety, the two towns differ as well. Marsaskala is considered a relatively low-risk area and has recently opened a new police station, whereas Birżebbuġa was flagged as high risk in 2024.

    This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

  • Local councils: Underfunded, Burdened By Waste, Committed To Guiding People Amid Population Growth

    Local councils: Underfunded, Burdened By Waste, Committed To Guiding People Amid Population Growth

    By Daiva Repečkaitė, Julian Bonnici and Sabrina Zammit
    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    • Malta’s population grew by over 100,000 in a decade, with migrants now representing one in five residents – and a majority in several urban localities.
    • Over the same period, tourism has increased to roughly 62,000 extra people every day.
    • Tax revenues have almost doubled, but local councils remain severely underfunded, receiving less than 1% of total tax revenue despite managing key services like waste, roads, and public spaces.
    • Waste management has become a flashpoint issue, politicised amid rising construction and tourism; complaints and enforcement gaps persist despite regionalisation reforms.
    • Economic geography is uneven: Sliema and St Julian’s dominate finance and tech, while southern towns depend on lower-wage retail and hospitality sectors.
    • Integration efforts are fragmented – some councils build partnerships with schools, churches, and NGOs, but most lack dedicated funding or staff for community programmes.
    • Experts and community leaders warn that true integration depends on local infrastructure, not national rhetoric, calling for investment in schools, councils, and shared spaces.

    Malta’s population has increased by over 100,000 in the past decade, with migrants now accounting for one in five residents.  In the country’s patchwork of towns and villages, it is residents and their local councils that sit on the frontline of this transformation.

    Malta’s small size and a large number of local councils create an opportunity for local governments to be close to the people.

    Local councils are responsible for upkeep and maintenance of roads, open spaces, playgrounds, and kindergartens; waste collection; and, under national schemes and in cooperation with national authorities, for health and educational facilities. They also have statutory duties to provide certain information to residents on their rights, services, and local decisions.

    As localities become increasingly diverse and foreign populations within them grow, some take initiative, while others merely watch as tensions rise.

    Take a look at the breakdown of Malta’s population and the impact of migration on certain towns here. Amphora Media zoomed in on local community interactions in localities, many of which border one another, that have seen significant increases in their foreign populations over the past decade.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    When local communities dwindle

    In several Maltese communities, foreigners now outnumber citizens. In St Paul’s Bay and Gżira, three out of every five residents are foreign, while in St Julian’s, Sliema and Pietà they make up just over half.

    Msida mayor Charles Selvaggi told Amphora Media that the official figure is a conservative estimate, as he believes there are many unregistered residents. 

    These shifts are reshaping the character of the localities. In communities like Sliema and St Julian’s, which have attracted foreign residents, including many of those working in the lucrative iGaming and financial services industries, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the locality is over €1,200 per month, according to the Housing Authority data.

    “The community is disappearing bit by bit. The young people from St Julian’s are leaving to find cheaper housing elsewhere,” St Julian’s mayor Guido Dalli told Amphora Media.

    Conversely, Damien Schembri, the mayor of Munxar, which also includes Xlendi, believes that affordability and rising housing costs in Malta could be behind recent increases in Gozo’s foreign population.

    “As a country, we’ve attracted many third-country nationals, and they need somewhere to live. I think the most affordable rents are in Xlendi and Marsalforn,” he said.

    According to the Housing Authority, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Munxar is €638 – nearly half of that in St Julian’s.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Localities differ not only in the composition of nationalities. They also attract a diverse range of industries and offer various job opportunities.

    According to the Central Bank, “St Julian’s and Sliema, alongside St. Paul’s Bay, Mellieħa and Valletta, have an active role as central hubs for the retail sector”.

    In total terms, St Paul’s Bay (2,929), Sliema (2,804) and Qormi (2,519) have the largest number of businesses, whereas St Julian’s had the most active commercial scene, with nearly 173 businesses per 1,000 residents. 

    Southern localities of Marsaskala and Birżebbuġa had the lowest presence of business. St Paul’s Bay has a relatively low business density per capita, but it still hosts a large number of businesses overall.

    However, Sliema and St Julian’s stood out as outliers, hosting the island’s top-earning private industries. NSO figures show that the two highest-paying sectors are Financial and Insurance Activities (€2,777 per month) and Information and Communication (€2,430 per month).

    Together, Sliema and St Julian’s account for 702 businesses in these sectors. When it comes to Financial and Insurance Activities, the combined total, 370, matches all other localities under review.

    A similar disparity appears in “professional, scientific and technical activities”, the fourth best-paying private industry (€1,937 per month). Here, Sliema hosts 495 businesses and St Julian’s 418. The closest competitors are Msida (233) and Qormi (223).

    Conversely, the sector grouping “Wholesale and retail trade; transportation and storage; accommodation and food service activities” records the lowest average monthly salary (€1,663) but remains the most common economic activity in localities such as Marsa, Ħamrun and Qormi. It is the activity with the largest number of employees in Malta, with 69,086 employees.

    Among the areas reviewed, Qormi (632) and St Paul’s Bay (461) lead the list, followed by Sliema (443) — highlighting the area’s broad mix of economic activity.

    “There are so many people here—Gżira has become very commercial. Restaurants are opening all the time. Big business. So obviously, a lot of people will come here, and when more people come, more problems will arise,” says Gżira mayor Neville Chetcuti. He wants to see more police presence in his town.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Our calculations show that overall, the more the population increases, the less local council budgets keep up.

    According to the latest available data, Malta generated almost €5.6 billion in tax revenues in 2023, an increase of almost €1.5 billion from 2020. 

    In comparison, the total budget for the 68 local councils in Malta and Gozo that same year was almost 43.9 million, less than 0.8% of the total tax revenue generated.

    For communities facing the burden of overpopulation and overtourism, such as Sliema, that figure drops to 0.02%, despite the economic activity in the area. 

    Among the localities analysed, Msida, with the largest share of foreign population in Malta, had the smallest budget per capita. Since 2013, Marsa has had the smallest budget upgrade. The Gozitan localities enjoyed larger allocations.

    Accounting for inflation, local council budgets increased by more than half in only three of the localities under review: St Paul’s Bay, Sliema, and St Julian’s.

    When waste takes over 

    “The biggest headache we have is rubbish,” says Żebbuġ (Gozo) mayor Baskal Saliba.

    According to the European Environment Agency, the total amount of waste generated in Malta increased by 100% between 2010 and 2022. It increased by a further 7% in 2023.

    The largest contributor was construction and demolition, a consequence of the development boom required to accommodate Malta’s population growth.

    Municipal waste generation per capita has started decreasing since 2019, as has total waste generation, despite minor fluctuations during the 2020–2022 period. Yet, the visibility of waste in localities and the shifting responsibility for waste management have politicised the issue.

    Data shows that councils received numerous complaints about late or lacking waste collection: Marsaskala was receiving 16 per week in 2022, Żabbar received over 700 in 2024. However, some councils did not have a system to log such complaints. 

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    A 2023 study on online hate speech in Malta found that hateful social media comments often dehumanised migrants by associating them with dirt or waste. The researchers noted that the Maltese words “żibel”, “ħmieġ”, and “imbarraz” appeared particularly frequently..

    The government has attempted to address the issue. In 2020, it announced the regionalisation of waste management, intending to achieve economies of scale.

    “We have to admit that when the regions took over the waste collection tenders, it failed—it failed in the sense that the plan to reduce black bags [mixed waste] didn’t work,” St Julian’s mayor Dalli told Amphora Media.

    Marsaskala mayor Mario Calleja is also unconvinced, warning that it has created a bureaucratic challenge and left him powerless. Msida mayor Charles Selvaggi went further, warning that it’s forcing people out of communities:

    “If you ask why native Maltese move out of Msida, they mention two reasons: too many foreigners, and the enormous waste problem we have in Msida, which is phenomenal,”he told Amphora Media.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    ‘Foreigners’, a seemingly catch-all term for residents, tourists and asylum seekers, often receives the blame, despite the clear distinctions between the groups.

    Marsaskala Mayor Calleja is critical of blaming resident foreigners for waste problems, instead pointing to the rise of short-term rentals.

    Gżira mayor Neville Chetcuti shares this view, observing that “the majority [of litterers] for sure are tourists. Especially those in short lets—they’re the ones who cause the most problems. Long lets—some here, some there—are not as bad. But the worst are the short lets.”

    Selvaggi is also cautious of placing the blame on ‘others’. “Everyone litters—we say foreigners because there are many foreigners living in Msida. Opposite the new government [housing] block, which is all Maltese, the problems are enormous.”

    Munxar mayor Schembri believes that in his locality, waste disposal contraventions are typically committed by migrant workers.

    “We see a big issue with waste separation, because they just don’t put out the waste on the scheduled day, and unfortunately, we mostly see this among third-country nationals,” he said, suggesting compulsory information sessions about waste for migrant workers.

    Since 2020, waste separation has been made mandatory.  In 2022, nearly 4,900 contraventions were issued.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Councils and Communities: A Shared Path Forward, Stepping Up When Central Government Will Not

    The National Strategic Vision for Local Government 2023-2030 promises that “Difficulties that may exist between Local Councils and Regional Councils will be scrutinised, followed up by an exercise through which a holistic list of guidelines could be created” without specifying how. With investment in local services low, Calleja’s approach to resolving various pressures relies on personal contact and networking.

     “We are in contact with the schools, with the church and everyone. In a community like ours, in Marsaskala, the mayor, the police inspector, the parish priest, the bank manager, and the heads of schools have to be united. If these people are united, then it could be easy to run the community,” he says.

    Kirstin Sonne, who has published a study on I Belong, a programme that offered courses to migrants, told Amphora Media that bringing migrants and educators allows persons from different communities to know one another and share practical advice.

    The programme took place at Malta’s central academic institutions. Sonne thinks that it would have been more impactful if it had a local character. 

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Speaking to Amphora Media, Mohamed Ibrahim, a Sudanese community leader, said that sometimes integration has to come from migrants themselves. An alumni of the I Belong programme, he explained that convincing others to join him was not easy.

    “It’s not easy to convince someone. It is up to us. I convinced very few.”

    “If you want to employ me but don’t understand you. How can I work with you? So [language] is very important. You have Maltese and English. So everyone has an opportunity.”

    Chetcuti of Gżira told Amphora that in his experience, inviting diverse communities to events at the council has not been fruitful, unless they are specifically targeted to migrants.

    The experience of the Migrant Women Association Malta shows that distance, on a small island plagued by bad traffic makes a difference in facilitating or impeding migrant women’s access to integration initiatives, and most women attending the programmes live close to the organisation’s hub in Ħamrun.

    The Nepali Malta Association is also a centre point for the Nepalese community in Malta. It has become a somewhat embassy in Malta, assisting its members in integrating and settling down in the country, while also addressing their issues.

    However, without sustained funding, it can be difficult to maintain.

    “We had something before. We used to study Maltese, English and some arts as well. Computers too. But because of COVID-19, we closed and we didn’t open it again,” Mohamed Ibrahim from the Sudanese community told Amphora Media.

    “Unfortunately, we didn’t [find government support]. We used to collect money to pay the rent, and we had to close it. We didn’t even try to find a place for us because the support there once was lost. Rent is not cheaper.”

    Sonne says that integration cannot be uncoupled from local infrastructures.

    “I think it would make more sense to invest in community events, or give local councils more money to create local infrastructure that people can use collectively. I think these kinds of organic ways of integrating, also putting a lot of resources into schools, that’s what could solve problems.”

    She concluded that “If there aren’t infrastructures and policies in place to accommodate a diverse population, then you are going to have so-called migration problems.”

    This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

  • More People, Same Police, Bigger Budget: Malta’s Enforcement Struggles To Keep Pace With Migration

    More People, Same Police, Bigger Budget: Malta’s Enforcement Struggles To Keep Pace With Migration

    By Julian Bonnici, Daiva Repečkaitė and Sabrina Zammit
    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    • Malta’s population rose by 100,000 in a decade, while tourism doubled, straining public order and services.
    • Police numbers barely grew, up just 32 since 2017 despite sharp population and tourism increases.
    • Frontline ranks shrank, with fewer district constables and more civilian or reserve staff.
    • Officer shortages are acute — in Sliema, Msida, and Gzira, one officer serves about 700 residents.
    • Paceville and other hotspots lack stations, as reports in St Julian’s rose by over 40% since 2020.
    • Police spending more than doubled to €117 million in 2025, driven by overtime and allowances, not new hires.
    • Overtime costs jumped 860% in ten years, while staff numbers stayed flat.
    • Community policing covers little ground, with just 129 officers across 25 localities.
    • Migrants face language and trust barriers, limiting access to justice and protection.
    • Court delays persist, leaving victims and migrant families without case updates or closure.

    Malta’s population has swelled by more than 100,000 in the past decade, fuelled largely by migration. One in five residents is foreign, while record levels of tourism add further pressure.

    Yet investment in policing and enforcement has not kept pace. Despite a ballooning budget dominated by overtime and allowances, the number of officers serving communities has remained largely unchanged, leaving districts overstretched. Meanwhile, residents, both local and migrant, have concerns over safety and security.

    As of November 2024, Malta’s police force employed 2,405 people, just 32 more than in 2017, and about 500 more than in 2004, when the population was roughly 400,000.

    As of November 2024, Malta’s police force employed 2,405 people, 469 more than in 2004, when the population was roughly 400,000.

    In contrast, Malta’s estimated population now stands at approximately 574,000, with migration driving the current increase. 

    Tourism has also doubled in the past eleven years: inbound visitors rose from 1.5 million in 2013 to 3.5 million in 2024, adding an average of 62,000 extra people to the country every day.

    The strain is most visible at the community level. In Sliema, Msida, and Gżira, grouped as Police District 7, 67 officers serve nearly 50,000 residents, excluding the thousands of tourists who stay there during their holidays.

    That works out to roughly one police officer for every 700 residents, a ratio that stretches even further during the summer influx of tourists.

    Police District 7 is not an exception. Ħamrun and Marsa, grouped with Pietà and Santa Venera in Police District 2, have 56 officers for almost 32,200 residents, or about one officer for every 575 people.

    “If I had to mention something that is lacking in our locality, it’s the absence of a police station. One officer on his own can’t keep up with everything, but still a police station would create more security among residents,” Pietà’s mayor Stefano Savo told Amphora.

    Other areas fare even worse. In Gozo, the number of district officers across the island has actually decreased by 51 over 10 years. And it’s a thankless job, says Victoria’s mayor Brian Azzopardi. 

    “If a policeman does his job, he only gets insults in return,” he told Amphora Media.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    In St Julian’s, which has seen heavy migration and bears the brunt of over-tourism, officers must also police Paceville, Malta’s nightlife hub, notorious on TikTok for videos of fights, vandalism, and public urination.

    Yet Paceville has no police station of its own. Instead, the St Julian’s district station serves as the first point of contact for residents, even though its officers are not formally tasked with policing Paceville.

    St Julian’s and Swieqi fall under the same police district, yet between 2013 and 2025, the number of officers assigned there fell by four. This decline comes despite a sharp rise in demand: police reports in the district increased by more than 2,600, from 5,937 in 2020 to 8,607 in 2024.

    Valletta, which has become its own entertainment hub in the years before and following V18, also faces similar shortages. From 2013 to 2025, the number of officers within its police district fell by 32, despite reports increasing by 797. 

    Shifts in the composition of the force have also weakened frontline enforcement.

    Between 2013 and 2023, the number of police officer ranks grew by 434, primarily driven by sharp increases in civilian officers (+238) and reserve constables (+208). In 2013, there were no civilian officers and one reserve constable serving in the force. Numbers of inspectors and sergeants also rose, but the force lost 137 district police constables.

    Overall, district police numbers fell by 153, with only Qormi-Siġġiewi-Żebbuġ (+24) and Birkirkara-Balzan-Attard-Naxxar (+15) recording increases.

    Despite this, the money being spent on policing has soared.

    The 2025 police budget is set at €117.3 million, more than double the €53 million spent in 2013. Most of the growth came after 2018, when the budget stood at near €70 million. 

    Government budgetary documents indicate that the surge is primarily driven by rising overtime, allowances, and salaries, despite the police workforce expanding by only 14 personnel between 2018 and 2024.

    Overtime costs have soared from €1.3 million in 2013 and €4.2 million in 2018, to a projected €12.5 million in 2025, an 860%% increase in a decade. 

    Allowances have more than doubled, from around €12.2 million in 2018 to an estimated €23.95 million in 2025, while salaries rose from €42.4 million to €58.8 million over the same period. 

    The government also generously spends on private security firms.

    At the same time, police workload has increased sharply.

    Reports have been steadily rising, with more than 85,000 filed in both 2023 and 2024. With 731 district officers across Malta and Gozo, that averages out to roughly 115 reports per officer each year.

    Introducing Community Police to Address Gaps

    Authorities have sought to plug enforcement gaps with the introduction of community police officers, 129 of whom are deployed across 25 localities, resulting in a rate of one community police officer for every 4,027 residents. 

    Sliema has just three community officers, while St Julian’s has five. Ħamrun, Marsa, Santa Venera, and Pietà share nine between them; Msida, Gżira, and Ta’ Xbiex have four; Marsaskala also has five; and Birżebbuġa and Marsaxlokk share five.

    The entire island of Gozo has 12 community police officers.

    Umayma Elamin from the Migrant Women’s Association, based in Hamrun, praised the community policing programme, saying it has helped bridge the gap between migrants and authorities on local issues and has already facilitated meetings that bring the two communities closer together.

    “I’d like to see more police in the streets—to control the situation and make people aware that someone is watching them. So people become more conscious of their behaviour,” Gżira mayor Neville Chetcuti told Amphora.

    Umayma Elamin further explained that many victims of gender-based or sexual violence are reluctant to approach the police directly.

    Without proper translators, Umayma says, authorities are unable to help victims of serious crimes effectively.

    “I feel even if translated, there is still a lack of training when dealing with the victim,” she said.

    In a document sent to the Council of Europe, the government stated that “Police personnel undergo cultural competence training to enhance their ability to effectively communicate and engage with individuals from various ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds.” Additionally, it noted that an Arabic-speaking Muslim officer was recruited to work in Marsa.

    No other examples of diverse recruitment in other localities were provided. Effective communication with migrant communities appears to remain an issue. 

    Enforcement without Justice

    Ultimately, enforcement is little without an efficient justice system. Like many Maltese residents, migrants also struggle with the country’s legal system, which suffers from some of the worst delays in Europe.

    Speaking to Amphora Media, representatives of the Nepal Malta Charity Organisation stated that while interactions with authorities are often positive, the justice system’s lengthy delays and lack of communication create significant problems.

    In recent years, several Nepalese nationals have died in Malta – most recently Khim Bahadur Pun, killed in a hit-and-run in August, and Gauri Kumari Baral, who died in January. Yet victims’ families and the wider community say they have received little to no information on the cases.

    There have also been no updates on Ajay Shrestha, who died in 2020 when a truck overturned on Triq Aldo Moro and collided with his motorcycle.

    Nepalese community representatives added that the safety of courier drivers remains a neglected concern. While some working conditions have improved, problems with unpaid wages, overtime, sick leave, and bonuses persist.

    “Every day we are facing an accident, no one is taking responsibility.

    This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

  • Landscapes Of Change: Malta’s Integration Strategy Fails To Match Migration And Population Growth

    Landscapes Of Change: Malta’s Integration Strategy Fails To Match Migration And Population Growth

    By Daiva Repečkaitė, Julian Bonnici and Sabrina Zammit
    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Over time, the image of migrants has changed in Malta, from minorities in need of help to workers who “have supported the economy on multiple fronts”, shored up the pensions system and filled skills gaps

    Yet, Amphora Media’s review of national policies and EU-funded projects indicates that migrants have more often been seen as a problem to manage rather than fellow residents. 

    Only one local council in Malta and Gozo, Sliema, has managed to follow through with an EU-funded project related to migrant integration.

    Positive attitudes towards the Integration of migrants appeared to be gaining ground by 2021 compared to 2017. One in three Maltese respondents said that the government should consider integration of non-EU migration as its top priority, roughly half said it should be prioritised more.

    “Integration pathways have the potential to contribute to further wealth creation while fostering safe communities for everyone,” Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg proclaimed in the current Integration Strategy and Action Plan 2025-2030.

    But with tensions continuing to rise and politicians warning of Malta’s declining birthrate, have strategies and reforms actually brought about change?

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Asylum seekers placed in struggling communities

    In 2005, the government opened the Marsa Open Centre for asylum seekers. By the time the government closed it in 2024, the total number of asylum seekers housed in facilities of this type was under 200. 

    According to the latest data, Marsa’s population is around 5,600, and over a quarter of its residents are foreign. In 2011, the foreign population was 147; by 2022, it had increased to 1,561.

    “The introduction of an open centre [predominantly] for sub-Saharan African migrant men in 2005 saw a sudden shift in the demographic population of Marsa, as hundreds of socially marginalized men were relocated within a dilapidated trade school on the outskirts of the town, whilst others sought to take advantage of cheap rent in the area,” Sharon Attard wrote in her PhD dissertation.

    Back then, the locality was also “ageing” and “segregated”, according to the Kopin NGO. Based on her fieldwork in Marsa for her PhD, Attard concluded that after the open centre opened its native-born residents felt “forgotten”.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Marsa also housed a heavy-fuel oil power station built in the 1950s, until 2014. It was among 622 facilities in the EU that contributed the most to the costs of environmental damage. 

    According to the Housing Authority, the average price for a two-bedroom apartment in the area is €600, well below the €1,200 price in areas like Sliema and St Julian’s, which host more affluent migrants.

    When Kopin, a human rights NGO,  interviewed African residents of Marsa about their experience in 2017, the interviewees mentioned racial profiling and unfair treatment by the police. Yet they added that the availability of affordable housing and jobs kept them in the locality, where some of them eventually opened their own shops.

    Issues do remain in the area. Recently, the government launched an urban regeneration project for Marsa. As of 2024, Marsa has a comparatively high council budget per capita, with almost €686,700.  But when accounting for inflation, it has increased by less than a quarter since 2013.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    For a time, the Sudanese community had premises in Hamrun, which is within walking distance from Marsa, for various upskilling and community-building activities. The centre even ended up in the official programme of the Valletta European Capital of Culture events.

    “We used to study Maltese, English and some arts as well, computer [literacy too],” says Sudanese community leader Mohamed Ibrahim. He explained that it was difficult to pay rent for the premises. After losing the physical space to gather, the community is not that active, even though Sudanese asylum seekers continue coming to Malta.

    Workers in focus

    According to researchers behind a 2023 study, when Maltese residents considered themselves victims of population developments, they blamed asylum seekers arriving by boat for this. But migrants in Malta are not limited to asylum seekers. Malta’s booming economy has attracted people from all over the world to work. 

    A 2005 document focusing on irregular migrants highlights the differences in policy challenges compared to today. 

    Irregular migration posed “challenges to the labour market”, it said. However, Malta already had a low unemployment rate, compared to other EU countries, and only 3.2% of residents were foreign citizens at the time.

    According to the Central Bank, between 2007 and 2018, there were more EU than non-EU workers registered in Malta, fuelled by economic crises, particularly from countries such as Italy, the UK, and Bulgaria.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    In 2017, the government simplified the procedures for employing non-EU workers, and by 2018, the net immigration of non-EU nationals outnumbered EU nationals.

    In an interview with The Malta Independent in 2018, Clyde Caruana, then chairman of JobsPlus, stated that JobsPlus was pursuing the employment of third-country nationals to sustain Malta’s economic growth and its pension system. 

    “If the economy continues to grow we will have to import foreigners no questions asked. If we don’t, the economy will grow at a smaller rate,” he said.

    By 2021, the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry called on the government to reform taxation in a way that “attracts not detracts foreigners from working in Malta” and to launch “an international marketing campaign showcasing Malta as a career destination”.

    Today, the issue identified in policy is high turnover of foreign workers, and one of the strategic objectives is “better working conditions, matching of skills and upskilling”. The National Employment Policy 2021-2030 acknowledged that “the inflow of migrant workers played a key contributing force to Malta’s buoyant labour market.” 

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Workers in the gambling sector (so-called iGaming) are a special case. According to the Malta Gaming Authority, close to 9,900 foreigners were working in the online gambling sector.

    They are not mentioned in the migrant integration strategy, but the Labour Migration Strategy promotes exemptions for the gambling sector from seeking to employ a Maltese/EU/EEA national first before offering a job to a non-EU national, and from limiting the maximum number of non-EU nationals upon recommendation of Gaming Malta.

    It is difficult to find precise data on the integration of gambling sector employees, but, according to the Gambling Insider magazine, Sliema, Msida, Gzira and St. Julians are “well known for housing international (and local) iGaming workers”, and these settlement patterns have reshaped Malta’s housing landscape.

    The localities also face signficant over tourism.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Malta, its Government and the attempts at Integration Policy 

    The Labour Party came to power in 2013, and the same month, the Ministry for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties was set up, tasked, among other duties, with migrant integration.

    By the end of 2015, it had announced an integration project, hosted a conference on integration, set up an integration portal with the International Organization for Migration and launched a public consultation on integration.

    A 2016 archived copy of the government’s integration website shows attempts to set up a portal of advice and information for foreigners in Malta, with sections on education, health and ‘social issues’. Among other things, it promised free childcare to non-EU nationals’ children, as long as the parents work or study in Malta.

    At the time, under 13% of Malta’s population was foreign, nearly equally shared between EU and non-EU nationals. This balance shifted in favour of non-EU nationals in 2018.

    In 2017, a new strategy document promising a “stronger framework for integration” was introduced. In it, then-Minister Helena Dalli wrote, “For Government, it is important that no individual or community feels isolated from those around them.” 

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    The document promised that “A migrant integration perspective should be incorporated in all sectors, such as education, employment, health, social services and other sectors, and at all levels and stages”. It launched the I Belong programme, where any migrant, from the EU or not, would submit a request, receive guidance by cultural mediators and an app, and attend language and cultural orientation classes.

    Mohamed Ibrahim, a Sudanese community leader who spoke to Amphora, praised the programme’s interesting content and good teachers, but admitted it was not easy to convince others to sign up for the course.

    Kirstin Sonne, who has published an academic study on the programme, told Amphora Media that the way the programme is designed encourages a specific kind of migrants – those who have already made headway in Maltese society. “

    A couple of people said that it would be more helpful if they had done it much earlier. After living in Malta for five years, you don’t really need to be told about the festa. You’ve seen it many, many times. So, there was a sense that this would be good when you first arrive,” she said.

    She is critical of using the programme as a requirement for migrants to access rights.

    “The whole concept of integration is, I think, problematic. What is the Maltese society? Is it really a homogeneous thing that you can integrate into? If there aren’t infrastructures and policies in place to accommodate a diverse population, then you are going to have migration problems,” she said.

    Evaluators of the programme noted that their milestones were ‘vague’ and there was no evidence that evaluation was conducted.

    According to African Media Association Malta, despite their vital role in the integration process, “NGOs in Malta face significant challenges in their efforts to support migrants. Funding is available, but the administrative red tape can be daunting”, also, “inefficiencies and duplication of services” emerge when the government and NGOs carry out similar actions.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Where did the funding go?

    Malta has benefited from EU funding for migration-related policies under different funding instruments: the European Integration Fund, the European Refugee Fund,and later the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF).

    These funds were open to government entities, NGOs, local councils and others. During the 2014-2020 period, when AMIF funds were disbursed, 24 projects received €21.7 million from the EU – of these more than €20.2 million went to the central government and only €1.4 million to everyone else.

    The AMIF was used, for example, to isolate asylum seekers with infectious diseases (nearly €467,000) and build walls at an open centre (over €102,600). Implementation of the government’s integration strategy, including the I Belong programme, received €1.4 million from the EU – more than all NGOs combined.

    By examining the treatment of migrants that received EU funding, it is clear that the bulk of EU funds went towards improving reception conditions for asylum seekers, followed by education initiatives (including I Belong) and healthcare. Removal of migrants from Malta by return or relocation was also quite prominent.

     During the 2021–2027 period, the bulk of AMIF funding in Malta was directed to government-managed programmes. Of the €33 million allocated across 12 projects, the majority went to government entities, with only a small share reaching NGOs and other organisations.

    Most funding supported reception of asylum seekers, followed by policy support—including implementation of the government’s integration strategy—and health services, while migrant return and removal operations also remained significant.

    All this time the only local council to receive support from these funds was that of Sliema, during the 2013-2020 period. 

    Over the decades, Maltese authorities published three evaluations on EU-funded border, asylum and migration measures.

    Two of these documents are a summary of projects in different countries and do not mention migrants at all. The third one was done before the activities were completed and acknowledged that it was too early to say whether it added value.

    Relevant government entities do not publish evaluation reports on their policies online, making it difficult for outsiders to analyse what has been achieved, if anything, during the years of integration policy.

    As for the European Social Fund, all published evaluations were ex ante, meaning they were conducted before the programmes began.

    We sent questions to various responsible ministries and the Parliamentary Secretary for Equality and Reforms. They did not reply.

    Beth Cachia, who works at the Jesuit Refugee Service, believes that integration policy should not rest on a series of EU-funded projects. “An integration strategy should be a structural thing that the government produces, not as part of an EU-funded project,” she told Amphora Media.

    This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco
  • Airbnb Barons: How A Handful Dominate Malta’s Multi-Million Euro Short-Let Market

    Airbnb Barons: How A Handful Dominate Malta’s Multi-Million Euro Short-Let Market

    By Julian Bonnici, Daiva Repečkaitė and Sabrina Zammit
    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    • Listings based in Malta generate an estimated €47 million annually. 
    • Nearly one-third of Malta’s estimated €47 million annual Airbnb revenue is collected by just 63 hosts. 
    • The top three operators alone collect around €3.7 million each year.
    • Malta’s short-let sector is dominated by property management firms and developers managing hundreds of listings.
    • Leading operators include 360 Group (650+ listings, generating €1.7m revenue), Buena Vista Holidays (300+ listings, €950k revenue), and ShortletsMalta Ltd (79 listings, €520k+ revenue).
    • Companies like Zzzing and GetawaysMalta manage dozens of short-lets in concentrated areas.

    When most people think of short-term rentals, often called “Airbnbs” after the company that popularised the model, they imagine a friend or relative renting out a spare room or apartment for extra cash. In reality, the industry is dominated by property managers who control hundreds of listings. Their portfolios generate hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, in revenue each year.

    Amphora Media’s latest investigation, carried out with support from Journalismfund Europe and in collaboration with Centro di Giornalismo Permanente, analysed data collected from Airbnb and provided by an activist-led platform, Inside Airbnb, to offer a closer look at a booming industry reshaping Malta’s tourism accommodation sector and fueling growing tensions within residential communities.

    Airbnb claims that the “vast majority of Hosts are regular people” and around “three quarters of EU Hosts share only one listing”.  According to Airbnb data, listings based in Malta generate an estimated €47 million annually. 

    Nearly a third of the  €47 million generated goes to just 63 hosts; 23 of whom each earn more than €200,000 a year. Hosts are the public-facing entities (individuals or businesses) that communicate with customers.

    The top 3 earn an estimated €3.7 million in annual revenue. Inside Airbnb does not have information on listing ownership. The revenues collected from Airbnb are shared between the owners and property managers.

    This only scratches the surface. Similar data from Booking.com, another major player in the sector, is not currently accessible. A quick search on their website shows there are at least 3,745 listings in Malta under the “entire homes & apartments”, “holiday homes”, or “villas” banner.

    “Matthew ThreeSixty Estates” and its six other profiles top the list of “Airbnb Hosts”, with more than 650 listings and an estimated annual portfolio revenue of over €1.7 million. The profiles are tied to 360 Group LTD, a Malta-registered company owned by Matthew Zammit, whose most recently published accounts date back to 2020.

    360 Group operates across several areas of the short-term rental market. According to the 360 website, services include property management, where owners hand over day-to-day responsibilities in exchange for a fee; subletting, which guarantees owners a fixed monthly payment under a long-term contract while the company uses the property for short-term lets; and a development arm. “Earn more. Stress less” is the company’s pitch to owners.

    The company’s representatives did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions.

    Buena Vista Holidays Ltd, another property management company offering services similar to 360 Group, which is owned by Aaron and Paula Xuereb, ranks second with over 300 listings and an estimated annual portfolio revenue of nearly €950,000.

    It operates on Airbnb under two profiles. ‘Buena Vista Holidays Malta’, which is registered under Buena Vista Holidays Ltd, and ‘Paola’, registered under ‘Paula Xuereb Management Services’, which provides no company number and cannot be found on Malta Business Registry.

    The company’s representatives did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions.

    The third-highest estimated earner is ShortletsMalta Ltd, owned by Franco Grech and Ralph Vella. 

    The firm, which brands itself as “one of Malta’s foremost developers of luxury residential apartments, homes and properties,” has moved into the short-term rental market. With 79 listings on Airbnb, it is estimated to generate more than €520,000 annually from this portfolio.

    The company’s representatives did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions.

    ‘Gwennoline’ and ‘Ryan’, who appear on behalf of Gobnb Ltd, a Maltese company owned by Ryan Seguna, Fabiano Bugelli and Roderick Bartolo, have the third most listings on Airbnb. Together, they manage 117 listings with an estimated annual portfolio revenue of more than €468,000.

    The company’s representatives did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions.

    Zzzing, another property management outfit, has 115 listings and their portfolio is estimated to generate over €260,600 a year. Zzzing promises its clients to take care of licensing.

    Run by VH Company Ltd, owned by Edward Cauchi, Bikram Arora and Jonathan Sammut, Amphora Media’s analysis of the data shows that Zzzing operates several Airbnb clusters: multiple short-let accommodations in a single location, sometimes covering multiple apartments in a residential block. It tops the list in this category.

    Amphora Media’s analysis, which mapped listings by geolocation, found that Zzzing ran 36 listings across 10 different clusters. Zzzing also has a significant presence on other platforms such as Booking.com, where it manages 116 properties. 

    The company’s representatives did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions.

    Sliema. Photo credit: Roberto Sorin

    GetawaysMalta, a host listed under an individual operator, Neville Galea, also operates significant clusters.According to the data, GetawaysMalta and GetawaysMalta Neville operate 87 listings across two profiles, generating an estimated revenue of €204,000 per year. Analysis shows that 32 of Getaways’ listings are spread across 8 locations. 

    To comply with EU law, Airbnb requires hosts to declare themselves as an individual or a company. Individual profiles should only be created for hosts whose primary activity is not short-term lets.

    As a host, Galea (a.k.a. GetawaysMalta Neville) and GetawaysMalta are registered as individuals despite Airbnb’s listed criteria stating that anyone whose main activity is short-lets, including solo traders, should register as a business. Galea’s listings come with a warning for guests, “Consumer protection laws don’t apply to reservations hosted by individuals”. 

    AirBnB did not reply to our questions about commercial hosts registering as individuals.

    GetawaysMalta’s representatives did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions.

    Some cases highlight serious gaps in Airbnb’s regulatory oversight. 

    One host, ‘Fabian,’ claims his properties are managed by SF Properties, but lists an invalid company number and cannot be traced on the Malta Business Registry despite identifying as a company in Malta. His 112 listings are estimated to generate around €110,000 annually. 

    The company’s representatives did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions.

    Data from Booking.com, another major player in the sector, is not yet accessible through similar scraping.

    However, upcoming EU legislation will require the platform to share such information with governments, a crucial step, given that our investigation found that 19% of short-term rental accommodations on the islands of Malta operate without a license from the Malta Tourism Authority.

    Speaking to Amphora Media, tourism researcher Marie Avellino explained:

    “If you’re running a business … or you are commercially managing lots of apartments… whoever is managing it has to address how they are going to cater for the collection of garbage – like you manage how the sheets are going to be washed, how the apartment is going to be cleaned. They charge very good money for managing. (…) So this has to be integrated into the contract””.

    Short-let managers “need to realise what harm is happening”, and when it does, customers will not return, she says.

    “If people come to the island and they think it’s dirty, full of rubbish and so on, they won’t come. [Managers] might not realise it, or they’re just thinking about what money they’re going to get now.”

    MEP Kim van Sparrentak (member of the Dutch Greens) led the development of the new EU law on mandatory data sharing between platforms and local authorities. Commenting on the Amphora Media investigation into enforcement gaps, she said, “The European rules that oblige Airbnb and other platforms to share data can help local and national authorities to enforce the rules can be a real game changer once these enter into force next year. Everything however starts with the political will to combat over-tourism and ensure that housing is for people, nor for profit.”


    This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

  • Malta Hasn’t Revoked a Single Medical Licence in 15 Years: Investigation Reveals How Banned Doctors Cross Borders Unchecked

    Malta Hasn’t Revoked a Single Medical Licence in 15 Years: Investigation Reveals How Banned Doctors Cross Borders Unchecked

    Daiva Repečkaitė, Julian Bonnici and Sabrina Zammit

    When patients file a complaint alleging mistreatment by their doctor, it cannot undo the harm, but it can offer a pathway to justice. In Malta, however, some of these complaints have remained under investigation for over a decade.

    No doctor in Malta has had their licence revoked or suspended for malpractice since 2010, despite allegations.

    This can have repercussions. An unprecedented international investigation led by OCCRP, VG in Norway, and The Times in the UK, exposes how doctors who have lost their medical licenses due to major wrongdoing, including patient harm, can easily relocate and practise in different countries. Amphora Media was the Maltese partner in this investigation.

    Reporters gathered more than 2.5 million records, which OCCRP’s data team built into a database to help trace banned doctors practising in a different country.

    Read the story by OCCRP here

    The team found at least three doctors who have lost their licences to practice abroad but are currently licensed practitioners in Malta, according to the latest register published by Malta’s Medical Council.

    Malta is also one of four EU countries, together with Estonia, Greece and Liechtenstein , that sent no alerts to the EU’s Internal Market Information System (IMI) about any doctor between 2016 and 2025.

    “It is very worrying to discover that, although we have a European alert mechanism for serious cases in the healthcare system, it is full of loopholes and is used inconsistently,” Nicolae Ștefănuță, vice president of EU Parliament, told OCCRP’s Romanian partner Public Record.

    “I call on Member States to treat these alerts with the utmost responsibility and not to let serious cases go unpunished,” he added.

    This is not due to a lack of patient complaints. The Medical Council’s latest annual report lists complaints that were filed as early as 2013 but have not been deliberated upon. At the time the 2024 annual report was filed:

    • The board of inquiry was still to start working on a case where a patient`s mother alleged unethical and unprofessional behaviour by a medical practitioner towards her daughter during treatment back in 2013.
    • A complaint about “unsafe medical practice to the community,” filed in 2017, was still pending at the committee level.
    • In 2018, a complaint reached the Medical Council about an unlicensed practitioner issuing medical reports, but the case was still being “discussed”.
    • A patient filed an allegation of sexual abuse in 2020, but the Medical Council had failed to initiate a board of inquiry.

    Neither the Medical Council nor the Ministry of Health and Active Ageing’s spokesperson replied to Amphora’s request for comment about these doctors.

    The Medical Council did not explain why investigations were taking so long. The spokesperson for the health ministry also ignored Amphora Media’s questions about the adequacy of the Medical Council’s procedures in investigating these cases.

    Credit: James O’Brien / OCCRP

    When in trouble, change countries

    OCCRP and its partners confirmed that over 100 doctors who are currently banned or suspended from practising medicine in one or more jurisdictions for a range of serious reasons – including cases of sexual assaults during their medical work, botched medical treatments and inserting breast implants without consent – are licensed to practice elsewhere. Some of them relocated to a country where they already had a license after being banned, while others managed to obtain new licenses.

    By calling their new workplaces, making online appointments or visiting their practices in person, reporters confirmed that the majority of those doctors were not only still licensed, but actively practising medicine. 

    “The fact that someone who has negatively impacted so many lives with their behaviour when they were in a position of care over those people, and myself being one of them, has then been allowed to keep practising and potentially harm more people is abhorrent,” said John, a British patient who spoke to reporters about a traumatic experience of unnecessary invasive procedures in the care of doctor Iuliu Stan, whose licence in the UK has been revoked but who is now practising in Romania. John requested his name to be changed.

    “It makes it feel like the people in charge don’t care and that they think nothing of the people that have already been his victims,” John added.

    Lawyer Tom Fletcher of Irwin Mitchell law firm, a specialist in abuse cases, is representing John and Stan’s other victims. Fletcher said that if a doctor had been struck off in one jurisdiction for sexual abuse, they should not be able to work as a doctor in another country. He said the experience has discouraged victims from seeking medical help when they need it.

    Read more about British cases in the story by our partner, The Times

    The investigation reveals that most countries did not publish data on doctors who had their licences suspended or revoked. This means that patients and reporters cannot easily see which doctors ever faced disciplinary action. 

    Only seven countries made data on inactive, banned or suspended doctors available to the public. Reporters filed dozens of freedom of information requests, but only nine were successful.

    The price of this secrecy is high. Among the examples uncovered by reporters was the case of Bernhard Scheja, a German doctor who was given a lifetime professional ban in Switzerland in 2023 for sexually assaulting an 18-year-old female patient, leaving the victim “severely traumatised”, the court found. He was given a suspended sentence of 22 months in prison for indecent assault in 2020, which was reduced on appeal. Scheja works at a private medical centre in Germany. He did not respond to requests for comment.

    EU’s notification system underused

    There is an information exchange system that covers the 30 countries of the European Union and the wider European Economic Area, which could alert authorities about suspended or banned doctors.

    Member states are required to file alerts about suspensions and bans on qualified professionals in their own jurisdictions to that online tool, which is called the Internal Market Information System (IMI) and is designed for collaboration between national authorities to protect public health and safety. But when reporters requested the alert history for doctors, they found that some countries had rarely or never sent one.

    Malta is one of them. Together with Estonia, Greece and Lichtenstein it sent no IMI alerts about any doctor between 2016 and 2025.

    A closer look reveals that there was nothing to alert others about: no medical licence has been revoked in Malta during that period.

    Even in cases in which reporters were able to verify that an alert had been sent about a ban on a doctor in one country, either via the IMI or another route, it did not necessarily lead to action by the doctor’s current jurisdiction. Member states are not obliged to consult the IMI alert system before approving a doctor’s qualifications, and have differing revocation standards.

    “If a doctor loses their licence for abuse or for otherwise putting patients at risk, then they will be just as dangerous in another country,” Sjur Lehmann, who used to work as a doctor and is now head of Norway’s board of health supervision, told reporters. “The system we have today is better than no system at all, but there are clearly sides to it that can – and should – be further developed and improved.”

    A report last year by the European Court of Auditors found that national authorities were “overwhelmed by alerts” through the IMI and did not check them when reviewing applications for recognition of professional qualifications, nor was it mandatory for them to do so.

    The European Commission said that it was “monitoring the situation concerning the fulfilment of the obligation by member states to send alerts via IMI” and that it may start infringement procedures if there is evidence that states are not fulfilling their obligations. It confirmed that infringement proceedings are currently in place against Greece. 

  • Lawless Lets: Unlicensed Short-Term Rentals Boom And Outpace Enforcement

    Lawless Lets: Unlicensed Short-Term Rentals Boom And Outpace Enforcement

    By Daiva Repečkaitė, Julian Bonnici and Sabrina Zammit
    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    • Approximately 1 in 5 Airbnb listings in Malta lack an MTA licence.
    • Hotspots such as Gżira (46%), Sliema (30%), and St Paul’s Bay (28%) show even higher rates.
    • MTA enforcement is struggling to keep up with the pace of the market.
    • Between 2022 and 2023, not a single license was revoked.
    • From 2026, new EU law will require platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com to share detailed monthly data with authorities.

    Malta’s tourist boom is spilling far beyond its hotels and guesthouses. From Marsaxlokk to Mellieħa, ordinary homes are being converted into holiday rentals on Airbnb – often without a license and outside the very rules meant to regulate them.

    Our investigation shows that about one in five listings across the island of Malta are unlicensed. The picture is starker in the main tourist hubs: nearly a third of all listings in Sliema and St Paul’s Bay are unlicensed, rising to almost half in Gżira.

    Boats and apartment blocks in St.Paul’s Bay. Nearly a third of all AirBnb listings in Sliema and St Paul’s Bay are unlicensed. Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Still, enforcement remains lacking, with officials expected to monitor all of Malta and Gozo’s catering establishments, kiosks, travel agencies and other establishments, not including the over 9,300 listings on Airbnb alone.

    Amphora Media’s investigation, carried out with support from Journalismfund Europe and in collaboration with Centro di Giornalismo Permanente, shows that almost every fifth liveable dwelling in Valletta, every ninth in St Julian’s, and every tenth in Sliema and Gzira has been converted into a short-let rentals advertised on Airbnb.

    In Malta, the law clearly states that no one can run a holiday premises without the proper licence. When Airbnb listings include a field for licence numbers, it is tracked by Inside Airbnb. However, this field was blank across all listings in Malta.

    On its website, Airbnb says, “the absence of a registration number does not mean the Host is not compliant—they’re just not required to register.” 

    In Istanbul, which was the focus of our partner’s investigation, the licence field was active and licence numbers were visible. Airbnb did not explain why Maltese listings do not show license numbers.

    Calculating the absent licences

    Our analysis is based on a conservative estimate of the gap between listings advertised and licences issued by the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA). To get a licence, properties must comply with rules on minimum bathrooms per person, emergency exits and lighting, and even a refuse collection service.

    For holiday premises of the standard class, the annual licensing fee is €130 per year per unit if it is in Malta and €104 if in Gozo – a higher rate is charged for villas with pools and farmhouses; lower fees per unit are charged for clusters of various sizes.

    A new EU law, which will apply from next year, will require large short-let platforms to send monthly data about this market to authorities. 

    “Cities are experiencing a spike in illegal short-term holiday rentals. This is making cities across Europe harder to live in and less affordable,” MEP Kim Van Sparrentak, who led the European Parliament’s work on the new law, said when it was adopted.

    As part of the investigation, Amphora Media and partners analysed data collected from Airbnb and provided by an activist-led platform, Inside Airbnb, and publicly available government and census data to offer a closer look at a booming industry reshaping Malta’s tourism accommodation sector and fuelling growing tensions within residential communities.

    Inside Airbnb has collected data on over 9,300 active listings advertised on Airbnb in Malta. Separately, Inside Airbnb collected data on hosts who identified as businesses and provided their details to Airbnb.

    Read more about how short lets are reshaping Malta

    MTA’s list of short-term rental licenses shows nearly 80,000 bed covers across 7,552 establishments. Among them, 7,116 are holiday homes. Guesthouses and hotels can also advertise on Airbnb.

    How did we calculate this?

    Total listings – Number of Licenses – Hotel/Guesthouse listings = Total Unlicensed

    If you just subtract the number of licences from the number of Airbnb listings, the result can be misleading, because one licence can cover many rooms or apartments in the same place (like a hotel).

    To fix this, we grouped listings that were at the same address or very close together (called “clusters”) and checked whether those with more than five belonged to hotels, hostels, or guesthouses

    Our analysis indicates that in some areas of Malta, nearly half of the Airbnb listings are unlicensed. 

    From the total 9,376 active listings found on Inside Airbnb’s database, 50 listings could be traced to licensed hotels, 79 listings identified themselves as rooms in hotels or b&bs.

    This is a conservative estimate, subtracting the number of MTA-licensed holiday homes from the total number of listings, after we identified & removed all collective accommodations and any listings that could not be confirmed or otherwise identified as such (390).

    Sliema. Photo credit: Roberto Sorin
    Sliema. Photo credit: Roberto Sorin

    In Malta: 

    There are 8,044 active listings.

    With 5,649 officially licensed holiday homes, it is estimated that around 1,925 listings are likely to be unlicensed – a quarter of all listings of the island and one in every 500 livable homes.

    The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) puts that figure even higher. Using data from VRBO to supplement that of Airbnb, an MHRA study conducted by Deloitte estimated that there could be as many as 10,043 short-term rental properties, around half of which are licensed.

    “Alternatively, if one were to consider NSOs data on guest nights spent in private rented accommodation during the peak July and August period, then there should be at least 8,900 – 10,000 private rented accommodation units available to support the market demand,” the report reads. 

    The data on unlicensed short-term rentals in Gozo is more complicated, hinting that many short-lets, licensed or unlicensed, are not advertised on Airbnb.

    Gozo has 1,332 listings on the platform, but there are 1,465 MTA licences for holiday homes in Gozo. A search on Booking.com for a two-person stay at “Entire homes & apartments”, “holiday homes”, “apartments” or “villas” shows a total of 1,261 properties in Gozo.

    MTA enforcement is not keeping up with the surging supply

    Limited enforcement by the Malta Tourism Authority has led to a proliferation of unlicensed holiday accommodation providers.

    According to data tabled in parliament, MTA carried out 1,771 inspections on new licensees and 2,839 routine inspections in 2023. However, this covers the licensing of catering establishments, kiosks, travel operators and other establishments.

    Blue Lagoon. Photo credit: Jaroslav-Moravcik

    Meanwhile, there were just 474 inspections based on complaints in 2023. That’s over nine a week, despite there being an estimated 62,000 tourists on Malta’s streets every single day. 

    The numbers for Gozo are even weaker, with just 32 inspections on complaints across a calendar year. The southern region is even less, at just 24.

    In 2022-2023, no licence was revoked. 

    Between January and March 2024, 250 tourist rentals were inspected. Details on whether any fines were issued or whether any licenses were revoked are yet to be provided following a freedom of information request.

    It should be noted that the Inside Airbnb datasets used for this investigation are accessible to MTA as well. In 2023, laws changed, so the MTA must share all holiday premises data with local councils on request.

    Ian Borg. Source: DOI

    Tourism minister Ian Borg promised action in April, saying on an episode of Il-Kazin that the government has “the data from the platforms; the data we don’t have, we will continue to obtain. And whoever is renting [to tourists] without being registered faces fines that reach €23,000 — meaning we are not going to be joking about this.”

    In August, Swieqi residents reached out to Booking.com and Airbnb to complain about suspicious listings and the negative impact of short-lets. Soon after, Swieqi’s Deputy Mayor wrote on Facebook that “Several listings from around six apartments have already been blocked, particularly those with just one or two registered guests, pending further investigation.”

    Booking.com told Amphora Media that it has “a solid process in place for authorities to report any concerns, taking swift action to remove properties if they are found not to be operating in compliance with local laws.”

    The Malta Tourism Authority and Airbnb did not respond to a request for comment. 

    Amphora Media also contacted 12 major short lets operators to ask how they manage licensing for their listings. None of them replied.

    This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

  • Short lets In Numbers: How Tourist Rentals Reshaped Malta

    Short lets In Numbers: How Tourist Rentals Reshaped Malta

    By Daiva Repečkaitė, Julian Bonnici and Sabrina Zammit
    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    • Tourism has more than doubled in a decade. Now at 3.5 million a year, or an average of 62,000 extra people per day.
    • Today, there are more than 9,300 active listings on Airbnb.
    • Short-term rentals now make up a third of the tourist accommodation market.
    • The market generates an estimated €47 million over a year.
    • Sliema’s Airbnb market is the largest, worth €7.3 million, followed by St Julian’s (€5 million) and St Paul’s Bay (€3.8 million).
    • In Valletta alone, 1 in 6 homes is part of the tourism market. In tourism hotspots, like Sliema, Gżira and others, that number is now at 1 in 10.
    • Nearly 200 clusters where multiple short-lets are concentrated in a single building or street.
    • Four main arteries in Sliema, Tower Road, The Strand, Triq Robert Arrigo, and Triq Manwel Dimech, host 401 Airbnb listings.
    • Local councils report mounting complaints over waste, noise, vandalism, and safety, while revenues eclipse budgets.

    Malta now boasts more than 9,300 active listings on Airbnb alone, a figure that underscores just how deeply short-term rentals have reshaped the island’s housing landscape, with some localities carrying a disproportionate share of the burden.

    Amphora Media’s latest investigation, carried out with support from Journalismfund Europe and in collaboration with Centro di Giornalismo Permanente, analysed data collected from Airbnb and provided by an activist-led platform, Inside Airbnb, to offer a closer look at a booming industry reshaping Malta’s tourism accommodation sector and fuelling growing tensions within residential communities.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Malta’s tourism, one of the seven priority sectors promoted by the government, has doubled in a decade. The number of visitors has soared from around 1.6 million in 2013 to 3.5 million in 2024, equivalent to an extra 62,000 people in the country every day.

    Accommodating this surge has pushed thousands to convert private residences into tourist lets. According to NSO, in 2024, the number of tourists staying in ‘other rental accommodation’, under which short-lets fall, exceeded a million.

    It now accounts for 33% of the total market, and the figure is growing. The number of tourists staying at hotels and other collective accommodation has also increased over the period, but their share has dropped by 10% over the last five years.

    The market can be highly lucrative. Inside Airbnb data reveals that Malta-based listings generate an estimated €47.3 million annually.

    Yet, most of the money fails to reach the localities and communities.

    For example, estimates based on Inside Airbnb’s data show that the Airbnb market in Sliema, one of the localities overburdened by tourism, generates an estimated revenue of over €7.3 million – dwarfing the 2024 Sliema local council’s annual budget of around €1.6 million. The 2024 budget for local councils was €48.4 million across 68 localities.

    The strain is being felt at the community level. 

    From waste to noise complaints, alleged vandalism and fears over public safety, frustrations are mounting, with residents in Swieqi even taking to the streets in protest.

    “Malta has a reputation abroad as a place where everyone does what they want – everyone smokes cannabis, everyone breaks things – that’s the reputation Malta has,” says St Julian’s mayor Guido Dalli.

    Marsaskala. Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    “[Short lets are] the most difficult thing, not only in Marsaskala, but around Malta,” Marsaskala mayor Mario Calleja told Amphora. In 2022, his local council was receiving 16 weekly complaints about rubbish on average. 

    “And why do we have these mishaps? The owners of these apartments do not inform tourists of the proper days to dispose of waste. They just take it out on whatever day. This is the most common problem for local councils.”

    In response to parliamentary questions about Airbnbs disrespecting municipal waste collection schedules, Owen Bonnici, in charge of local government, replied with promises to distribute information stickers and increase enforcement.

    Swieqi: A residential neighbourhood transformed

    “If residents are happy, tourists will come,” says veteran hospitality expert Marie Avellino. But protests, petitions and media reporting about locals’ grievances show that for many locals, mingling with tourists is less than a happy experience.

    Even the government’s tourism 2021-2030 strategy acknowledges that the “signs of uneasiness by local residents having to cohabit with tourists accommodated in residential apartment blocks or similar” is one of the ‘areas of concern’ 

    Swieqi, once a quiet residential suburb neighbouring St Julian’s, has morphed into a hotspot for short-term rentals, a byproduct of its proximity to Paceville, Malta’s nightlife capital, which has gained notoriety online for clips of rowdy tourist behaviour. 

    Over a third of Swieqi listings mention Paceville in their description. Some listings even warn that the proximity to Paceville makes the place unsuitable for families and older people.

    Airbnb did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions about these developments.

    Our analysis shows 432 active Airbnb listings in Swieqi, accounting for approximately 6% of all livable residences in the area. That figure excludes other platforms such as Booking.com, for which we could not obtain comparable data. 

    Davcar Developments Ltd, whose brand is Holiday Letting Malta, is a major player, with 80 active listings, 62 in Swieqi. 360 Group comes next with 24 properties in Swieqi, but their estimated revenues are the largest, approaching €99,000 in Swieqi alone.

    Cross-checking the numbers with Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) records suggests that, by conservative estimates, more than 9% of Swieqi rentals are unlicensed.

    In August, weeks before a protest over the issue took place, an activist who asked to be called JC reached out to Booking.com and Airbnb to complain about suspicious listings and the negative impact of short-lets.

    In response to our questions, Booking.com said, “In the very rare instance that we are made aware of any unlawful behaviour taking place at a property listed on our site – including house parties – we investigate thoroughly, cooperate with local authorities or law enforcement, and when necessary block the customer account from our platform.”

    “We also have a solid process in place for authorities to report any concerns, taking swift action to remove properties if they are found not to be operating in compliance with local laws.”

    MTA did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions.

    Valletta: built by gentlemen, housed for short lets

    The rise of short-term rentals has reshaped neighbourhoods while directly draining the supply of homes available to residents.

    Historically, tourist accommodation in Malta concentrated along the coast, as tour operators channelled their sun-seeking clients for standard-length holidays at beachside hotels.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    However, in 2006, low-cost airlines began operating in Malta, attracting city break seekers. To keep up with the demand, short-term rentals have soared, now comprising a third of the market.

    In Valletta, Malta’s state and cultural capital, nearly 570 properties are listed on Airbnb, meaning around one in six liveable homes in the city is now part of the tourism market.

    According to official statistics, Valletta is in second place in terms of tourism intensity, with its effective population in 2023 nearly doubling.

    This is mainly driven by tourists. Census data shows that as of 2023, Valletta has just over 5,000 residents, smaller than what it was in 2013. A fifth of them are over 70 years of age.

    The five largest operators have 130 listings among them.

    VREM Ltd has the largest portfolio in Valletta, with an estimated annual revenue of around €108,000 from the city. Valletta Vintage emerged as the highest earner, estimated to generate over €324,000 per year with just 10 listings.

    The combined revenue of the top 10 earners from Airbnb exceeds the 2024 allocation to the Valletta local council from the central government.

    “The private sector is proliferating in residential zones, which is clashing with the community,” says Valletta resident Billy McBee, who founded Residenti Beltin and unsuccessfully ran for the last local elections with this movement.

    “I remember a time when we used to have good quality tourists. I mean, very respectful ones, they used to leave tips, they used to go for retail, but the quality kind, you know, they never gave any problems to anyone. Nowadays, you get horrible quality tourists.”

    “Waste management is quite an issue. If the private sector truly honours the private collection, then there wouldn’t be any problem. But during summer, you’ve got pests, cockroaches, rats, smells, and liquids. These are really, literally getting out of hand,” he says.

    In 2024, 44 waste contraventions were issued in Valletta, and three resulted in court cases. Valletta’s budget for waste disposal and refuse collection was €120,000 in 2024.

    We asked 12 major operators about their approach to licensing, neighbourhood disturbance policy, and waste management. None of them replied.

    “You have nightlife, without ensuring enforcement,” McBee continued. “They [policymakers] keep adding so many things to the pot, which is now boiling. People are getting fed up. Valletta is not managing its infrastructure, like energy, electrical waste management, drainage system, and traffic.”

    MTA did not reply to questions about licensing so many short lets in Valletta.

    Sliema, St Julian’s, Gżira and St Paul’s Bay: Localities overwhelmed

    Swieqi and Valletta, however, are far from the worst affected. Sliema tops the list with 1,268 Airbnb properties, followed by St Paul’s Bay with 1,007 and St Julian’s with 947. The next highest concentrations are in Gżira (684) and Valletta (569).

    In Gżira, Sliema and St Julian’s, roughly one in ten liveable homes is now listed on Airbnb.

    Gżira. Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    Estimates from Inside Airbnb data show that Sliema’s Airbnb market is the largest, worth €7.3 million. Airbnb listings are estimated to generate around €5 million in St Julian’s and €3.8 million in St Paul’s Bay.

    The numbers also reveal heavy clustering. In nearly 200 cases, multiple listings are concentrated within the same location, suggesting that operators may run residential buildings as de facto hotels, but with fewer regulations or oversight than traditional accommodation providers must follow.

    St Julian’s, Sliema and St Paul’s Bay top that list with 69, 68, and 68 listings in such clusters, respectively.

    The concentration of short-term rentals is starkest at street level. In Sliema alone, four main arteries, Tower Road, The Strand, Triq Robert Arrigo and Triq Manwel Dimech, account for 401 listings between them.

    Photo credit: Pablo L. Mendoza

    Tower Road tops the national list with 145 Airbnbs, followed by The Strand with 114. Similar patterns emerge elsewhere: Triq d’Argens in Gżira hosts 70, while St Julian’s has three streets, Ġorġ Borġ Olivier, St George and Triq Spinola, each exceeding 50 listings.

    Gżira Mayor Neville Chetcuti warns that, similar to Valletta, there is a larger transformation of his locality set in action.

    “It’s an ageing population in Gżira. There aren’t many young people, obviously, because every place is being demolished and rebuilt into hotels or flats or guesthouses. So they move out of here, and the number keeps going down,” he told Amphora Media.

    Credit: Joanna Demarco

    A Battle on Two Fronts: Poor Enforcement In Communities Facing Overtourism And Overpopulation

    Many localities facing the burden of over-tourism are facing challenges from a ballooning population, despite significant gaps in enforcement.

    St Julian’s and Swieqi fall under the same police district, yet between 2013 and 2025, the number of officers assigned there fell by four despite the locality being under “very high risk” of crime. This decline comes despite a sharp rise in demand: police reports in the district increased by 2,670, from 5,937 in 2020 to 8,607 in 2024.

    Sliema. Photo credit: Roberto Sorin
    Sliema. Photo credit: Roberto Sorin

    Meanwhile, across Malta, the number of noise complaint reports has increased over the years, climbing from 341 in 2021 to 473 in 2024. 

    Nowhere is the strain felt more than in Paceville. Despite being Malta’s nightlife hub, notorious on social media for clips of drunken brawls, vandalism and public urination, it has no police station of its own.

    Instead, the St Julian’s station and Swieqi officers serve as first points of contact for those requiring police intervention in the area.

    The government has refused to disclose exactly how many officers are deployed in Paceville. Replying to a parliamentary question in May, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said only that numbers “vary according to the need and particular circumstances”, noting that patrols there include district and community police as well as the Rapid Intervention Unit.

    He also promised that a CCTV network for Paceville would finally be operational by next summer.

    Valletta, which has become its own entertainment hub in the years before and following V18, faces similar shortages. Police numbers in its district fell by 32 between 2013 and 2025, even as incident reports to the police rose by 797 between 2020 and 2024.

    Sliema, Gżira and Msida, grouped together in Police District 7, are also under strain. The district, which combines dense residential areas with heavy tourist inflows, has 67 officers in total. 

    With a total population of 49,000, that means there’s one officer for every 731 residents. According to Euronews, the EU had an average of 341 police officers per 100,000 people, or one officer every 293 residents.

    Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

    In response to parliamentary questions about Airbnbs disrespecting municipal waste collection schedules, Owen Bonnici, in charge of local government, replied with promises to increase enforcement for those disposing of waste on the wrong day.

    “I’m not saying Maltese don’t litter, because they do as well, but the majority for sure are tourists. Especially those in short lets, they’re the ones who cause the most problems,” Gżira mayor Neville Chetcuti told Amphora Media.

    Tourism researcher Avellino cautions against blaming tourists for the waste problem when the door-to-door collection system confuses them. 

    “Imagine that as a tourist, I don’t know what to do with the garbage bag. I walk along the streets and see garbage bags outside. ‘Ah, that’s what people do there! Okay, I will do the same.’ And they think they’re doing a good thing,” she said.

    Tourism’s growth “places stress on key resources”, Deloitte acknowledged in a carrying capacity study, published in 2022. “Already at 2019 tourism levels, tourists’ and residents’ satisfaction were impacted by excess volume,” the study’s authors noted.

    “Key issues impacting both residents and tourists (to varying degrees) include traffic, littering, waste management, poor urban environment (overcrowding, overdevelopment and uglification) and the lack of authenticity of experience,” Deloitte noted. In response to the negative effects, there are increasing calls to calculate touristic locations’ carrying capacity again. 

    Avellino warns that this may not be a silver bullet.

    “Carrying capacity changes. It’s not like you’ve got an apartment with three bedrooms, therefore the carrying capacity of that apartment is six persons.”

    She says that coming up with an objective figure of how much tourism the islands can sustain is very difficult, and even if it could be done, it may upset some:

    “Governments and politicians traditionally went by volume. So if the carrying capacity exercise had to be done – and it’s very complex to do it – and all of a sudden the carrying capacity, for example, turns out to be two million tourists – it hurts them.”

    This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

  • Fatti: Is Malta One Of The Least Polluting Countries?

    Fatti: Is Malta One Of The Least Polluting Countries?

    “We [Malta] are among the countries that pollute the least.”

    Environment Minister Miriam Dalli made the bold claim at an informal meeting of EU Environment Ministers in Aalborg this July, while discussing new EU measures and targets to curb pollution, policies that could prove both costly and unpopular at home.

    Minister Miriam Dalli. Photo credit: DOI

    Yet Malta’s energy policy has come under criticism from EU institutions. Council has urged the government to “wind down the emergency energy support measures”, which is estimated to be worth around 1% of Malta’s GDP on subsidising climate-harming fuels. In a meeting with social partners, Prime Minister Robert Abela promised to retain these subsidies in the 2026 budget.

    According to the Commission, Malta maintains sizeable fossil-fuel subsidies without a planned phase-out before 2030. Many of these subsidies neither protect vulnerable households nor safeguard energy security, and hinder the shift to cleaner transport and industry.

    Both narratives overlook one crucial factor: Malta’s environmental footprint extends beyond its coastline. Our impact extends outward through ships and planes, our waste and electricity, and all that we consume to keep the island running.

    Against this backdrop, Dalli’s claim raises a key question: is Malta really such a small polluter?

    Speaking in Aalborg, Minister Dalli said:

    “To achieve [Climate neutrality by 2050] we need to have specific targets, but we want those targets to be fair, ensuring they follow the most cost-effective path. We want the national circumstances of different countries to be taken into consideration, particularly in our case, since we [Malta] are among the countries that pollute the least.”

    “We need to make sure that what we are agreeing upon is being implemented and is realistic for countries, particularly for small countries like Malta, where our position is to keep insisting that Malta is the country with the lowest per capita pollution in the European Union. We are making every possible effort, but we do not want to place a burden on the people.” 

    In 2023, more than a third of people (35%) in Malta reported exposure to pollution, grime, and other environmental problems. This is the highest share in the EU and nearly three times the EU average of 12%. High-earning households were even more affected than low-earning ones. However, the share was 40% in 2013.

    When we look at domestic net greenhouse gas emissions per capita, Malta’s are indeed third-lowest, as of 2023. But this calculation has an important caveat: “emissions from international aviation and maritime transport are excluded”.

    Counting emissions strictly within national boundaries fails to capture the total pollution generated by a country’s economy.

    Many other EU economies emit greenhouse gases to produce the goods and services people need, such as food or household items.

    Malta has the lowest share of agricultural production in its economy (alongside Luxembourg), the third-lowest share of manufacturing, and even the third-lowest share of construction.  That means, for all the added value generated in the Maltese consumer economy, the contribution of productive industries is minimal.

    To account for this, the EU also calculates greenhouse gas footprint. Here, as of 2022 Malta ranks in the middle third of EU countries emissions per capita linked to consumption.

    In other countries industry is a major generator of emissions. Malta has hardly any productive industry

    Malta’s invisible emissions: The sea and air

    That’s not everything. Footprint calculations follow “the concepts and definitions of national accounts.” These accounts do not include international aviation and navigation (shipping). According to UN standards, these are reported separately and are not subject to the limitation and reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol . This has left governments with fewer incentives to reduce emissions in these sectors.

    Malta’s tourism boom has seen an increase in aircraft travelling in and out of Malta.

    The Malta International Airport reported nearly 59,000 aircraft movements in 2024, up from around 51,000 in 2023 and some 40,000 in 2022. The amount of cargo flown in also increased, with planes transporting almost 24,000 tonnes of cargo in 2024. As of April Malta’s aircraft registry has 929 planes and other aircraft types.

    Meanwhile, Malta’s maritime registry grew by almost 10% in 2024, strengthening Malta’s position as the largest maritime registry in Europe and the sixth largest in the world.

    Ships can register in any country, without having links to it. Shipping companies, which already enjoy VAT advantages, can register in low-tax jurisdictions and compete with more environmentally friendly means of transportation.

    According to NSO’s latest data, there were 8,644 vessels under the Maltese flag as of 2022, with 797 new vessels added. Three-quarters of these new additions were pleasure yachts.

    The government has announced that in the first quarter of 2025, the registry surpassed 10,000, and Malta has the largest registry of superyachts in the world. 

    According to Eurostat (2023 data), with nearly 46,000 ships, Malta ranked 9th in the EU in terms of vessel arrivals. Meanwhile, data from Transport Malta shows that 779 vessels arrived in Malta with wheeled cargo, such as vehicles. Additionally, 470 ships transported crude oil, and 420 vessels carried cruise passengers.

    In 2023, the European Federation for Transport and Environment, an advocacy group, published a study on the cruise industry and stated that “The sector still relies almost entirely on fossil fuels of the dirtiest kind, full of toxic substances including sulphur.”

    In 2021, researchers at Indiana University estimated that a superyacht with a permanent crew, helicopter pad, submarines and pools is “by far the worst asset to own from an environmental standpoint”.

    Oxfam’s 2024 analysis found that “an ultra-rich European on their yachts emits, on average, as much carbon as an ordinary European would in 585 years”. It shows that 22% of superyachts’ overall emissions are generated while moored, which means that Malta-flagged superyachts moored elsewhere would pollute another country while enjoying exemptions from EU carbon pricing.

    A 2023 strategy document by the Transport Ministry aimed to “make Malta a jurisdiction of choice for the superyacht industry”, adding that “diligence must be exercised to ensure that coastal infrastructure and other activities associated with yachting do not cause pollution or deterioration of the coastal environment.” Words like ‘emissions’, ‘carbon’ and ‘greenhouse’ are never mentioned.

    The EU has taken steps to account for the pollution from planes and ships within the bloc. Companies flying to and from the EU must obtain emissions allowances. Since last year, the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has been extended to maritime transport (shipping) emissions. For now, 12 companies are assigned to report to Malta.

    These changes mean that counting and reducing emissions is gradually becoming mandatory for ships and planes, through international frameworks that require reporting and impose reduction obligations— though these systems do not yet set absolute caps on total emissions. The rules on shipping are new and will be phased in gradually, so we will need to wait for statistics.

    Malta’s waste overseas: Over 130,000 tonnes sent abroad for recycling

    Waste is another item that Malta partly offloads to other countries. Its reliance on exporting waste for recycling (see our earlier reporting) makes it challenging to calculate what share of exported waste is actually recycled and what ends up burnt or landfilled abroad, generating emissions without satisfying consumer demand the way real recycling does.

    Ministers Miriam Dalli and Chris Bonnet at the Maghtab Facility. Photo credit: DOI

    According to 2023 NSO data, Malta sent around 130,000 tonnes of waste abroad for recycling and nearly 12,000 tonnes for energy recovery. 

    Plugged In Abroad:  A third of Malta’s electricity is imported

    Energy supply figures show that Malta’s dependence on energy imports increased between 2023 and 2024.

    Last year, nearly a third of Enemalta’s supply came from the Malta-Sicily interconnector (less than a quarter in 2023).

    About two-thirds of this import was generated by natural gas – a fossil fuel – and only 8% by renewables.

    A highly polluting power station in Marsa has been closed. Photo credit: Enemalta

    In absolute terms, the increase in electricity imports appears even more striking, rising from 648.36 GWh in 2023 to 970.42 GWh in 2024. Italy itself is a net importer – it imports energy for its own needs.

    Through the interconnector, Malta can also export energy, but these exports dwindled between 2022 and 2024.

    Minister Dalli refers to a “burden” in her comments after EU recommendations to stop subsidising fossil fuels.

    In July, ARMS Ltd, an entity under Dalli’s ministry, circulated individual letters to households, saying, “The government is fulfilling its commitment to support families amidst the increase in international oil and energy prices, which support is resulting in continuous savings for you.”

    According to the European Environment Agency, fossil fuel subsidies in 2023 in Malta represented the highest share of gross domestic product (GDP) among EU countries. Energy subsidies were the third-largest item in the Programmes and Initiatives category of the state budget, in the first half of 2025, after social security benefits and church schools.

    A recommendation drafted by the European Commission was scathing: “In Malta, fossil-fuel subsidies – such as the ongoing support to Enemalta, subsidies for petroleum producers, and a reduction of excise duties on petrol and diesel – are economically inefficient and act as disincentives to the uptake of renewables and the decarbonisation of economic activities. Moreover, they represent a budgetary burden on Malta’s public finances.”

    When considering domestic net greenhouse gas emissions per capita alone, Malta is indeed among the lowest polluters. However, it refuses to recognise the full picture.

    In the context of climate change, it is relevant to consider the total demand generated by each country’s consumer economy, not only emissions within its national boundaries. 

    When a country’s economy benefits from sectors not accounted for in the national emissions accounts, such as shipping, consumer products, and other services like electricity, it is essential to account for their emissions when examining the environmental impact of Malta’s economic activity. 

    Given Malta’s consumption emissions place closer to the EU average, its wide shipping industry, growing air travel, and increasing external electricity production, Minister Dalli’s statement that Malta is among the least polluting countries in the EU is misleading, especially when considering that one in three people in Malta have reported exposure to pollution, the highest in the EU.

    This is especially true in the context of measures to rein in climate change, which include phasing out environmentally harmful subsidies.

    This project is supported by the European Media and Information Fund. The sole responsibility for any content supported by the European Media and Information Fund lies with the authors and it may not necessarily reflect the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.