As the annual bitching starts from the Algarve’s campsite operators, justifiably incensed at the lack of effort from the authorities in controlling motorcaravan owners enjoying the region from their illegally parked vehicles, Lagoa council has decided to turn a large section of Estômbar's Sitio das Fontes into an official motorcaravan camp site.
So called ‘wild camping’ long has been a problem in the Algarve, but one that has increased year on year so that now an estimated 180,000 motorcaravans are in the region, far more than local campsite provision could handle.
The tourist board wants to encourage this market as many motorcaravan owners come to the Algarve in the off season, boosting local trade and providing customers for languishing businesses.
This year the campsite operators have submitted a complaint to the State Secretary for Tourism asking him to regulate the sector with a bit more effort. That was several months ago. As for a reply, they are still waiting as she is very busy.
January 2015 saw the Commission for Coordination and Regional Development of the Algarve, the Intermunicipal Community of Algarve, the Algarve Tourism Board and the Algarve Tourism Association sign a protocol for the implementation of a regional strategy to host motorcaravanning.
"For many years, this tourist segment has had a strong presence in the Algarve region and with the involvement of these bodies we will have the conditions to move forward with a regional network of spaces for hosting motorcaravans,’ boasted the CCDR-A news release way back then.
To say this project has been anything but a total failure would be wrong. Tourism boss Desidério Silva is still coming out the same old drivel that he has been spouting for years:
“It has a relevant importance for the region’s economy, but the motorcaravanners have to stay on sites with all the necessary conditions of safety and hygiene, factors that are required to comply with rules so that it is no longer an anarchic issue which can entail the destruction of natural and sensitive spaces”, adding that “the tourist board is working with municipalities to take better advantage of this tourism segment.”
Two and half years later, Silva is still, 'working on it' but lacks the practical skills and motivation to succeed.
Nobody really knows what to do, with too few licensed sites for the demand and an aversion by many users to park in organised sites when there is the whole of the Algarve’s coastline to park in.
Lagoa council has come up with a plan that will trigger complaint from many locals. It has decided to turn part of the idyllic Sítio das Fontes in Estômbar into a motorcaravan campsite.
The council is to create a sheltered area for campers, in fact the work already has been commissioned at a cost to the ratepayer of €45,000 and will be ready in three months.
A 2,100 m2 chunk of this waterside park, beloved by generations of Lagoa locals, soon will be an overnight parking area for 25 vehicles.
The site will join the official Reception Network for Motor Homes in the Algarve Region and, if anyone can find it, no doubt will be popular with caravanners who will have access to drinking water, a wastewater discharge point, a waste disposal zone, an eco-point, public lighting and a WiFi service.
Until this market is analysed, nothing will change as those involved want the income while pretending to be keen on regulation. The losers are the registered campsites whose investors were foolish enough to believe that this sector will ever be regulated or policed.
