A once-beloved holiday complex falls into ruin

The happy sounds of holidaymakers have long since faded from the Ħal Ferħ complex in Golden Bay. Cane chairs sit stacked atop one another in what used to be the tourist resort’s restaurant, while rats scurry in and out of derelict bungalows. A service door asks visitors to ‘please knock and wait’: its missing bottom panel suggests it has been a while since anyone followed those instructions. Abandoned and almost forgotten, the Ħal Ferħ complex is gradually sinking into the recesses of Malta’s collective memory, photos taken by an Italian documentarian in 2016 suggest. Plans to turn the area into a golf course veered off the green more than a decade ago; some years later, Island Hotels Group unveiled €65 million plans to replace the derelict complex with 218 luxury suites. A planning permit was issued in February 2013, but things never moved beyond that. In 2015, Island Hotels International – which had in the meantime bought out IHG – announced that it would taking full control of the complex. It is now controlled by IHI subsidiary The Heavenly Collection Ltd. PHOTOS: Postcards from forgotten places, in Malta and beyondIHI’s 2016 annual report informed shareholders that works to...