Despite the government’s desire to encourage out of season tourism, the burgeoning motorcaravanning market is subject to a set of rules that have made participants question whether they are welcome at all in Portugal.
There are between 4,000 and 5,000 Portuguese registered motorcaravans in Portugal. The government despite its predilection for collecting data can not supply a total, so a guesstimate will have to suffice.
The Portuguese Federation of Motorcaravanning (FPA) says the number of motorcaravanners is growing 15% a year, yet describes a feeling of oppression with scrappy legislation and little infrastructure support for its members and for foreigners coming to enjoy the country.
FPA president José Pires said the market will exceed two million overnight stays this year - about 5% of all tourist overnight stays in the country - which will bring €100 million to local trade.” With 80% at or over retirement age, this is a well off and time rich group.
More than 80% of these overnight stays are by foreigners visiting during the middle and low seasons, mainly travelling along the Portuguese coastal roads, particularly in the Alentejo and the Algarve.
Pires says a major concern expressed by his members is the lack of appropriate legislation, "There is no law that adequately covers the motorhome, motorcaravanning or the necessary infrastructure to support the activity. The few laws that have been published are useless as they have been written without listening to the organisations that represent motorcaravanning.”
José Pires added that his members are faced with a variety of resolutions from the Council of Ministers mixed with diverse local regulations,
"All these rules restrict members in a discriminatory and absurd way without offering credible alternatives. They do not address the real need: a national network with various types of supporting infrastructure, well situated so that motorcaravanners can be directed to places and routes of interest.”
"In Portugal we live in a climate of some hostility, with exceptions from some municipalities and parish councils,” said Pires, adding that the treatment of motorcaravanning in Spain is taken seriously by the tourism authorities, the tourists are welcomed and are well served."
After seven years work, in January 2015 a scheme was launched, and then launched again in December 2015, for network of authorised motorcaravan sites under the Algarve Motorhome Support Network (RAARA) banner.
The regional tourist board produced a leaflet for travellers which lists the parking sites and offers some useful hints about a network that includes camping and caravan sites, rural camping and motorhome service areas.
The main goal was to promote legal accommodations in a quality setting that is comfortable and safe, but with the inevitable multi-agency approach involving the Algarve Regional Development and Coordination Commission (CCDR Algarve), Algarve Tourism, the Algarve Tourism Association (ATA) and the mayors’ group, AMAL, the scheme is unlikely yet to be running smoothly.
In January this year the registered campsite owners voiced concerns that the new support network failed to exclude non-registered sites from operating and have called for better policing and law changes to leave them as the sole providers.
There is no end in sight to the problem of wild camping but there now at least is a route of sites, albeit run by owners who are annoyed that the scheme allows the continuation of illegal operators.
See
http://www.visitalgarve.pt/visitalgarve/vEN/VivaOAlgarve/477//Sugestoes/Motorhome+in+Algarve.htm
