“What we want is for things to be organised, legal. Because anything that brings tourism that is not what we want, this brings pollution, brings lack of hygiene, even brings public health problems”, the mayor of Vila do Bispo, Rute Silva, told Lusa news agency.

The ban on parking in natural parks, which make up most of the municipality’s territory, is already a reality that is often not complied with, but it raises other problems that need to be resolved.

“I can give you an example: we have school car parks that, in the morning when parents go to take their children to school, are occupied by motorhomes”, said the mayor.

The Council has put up signs prohibiting this type of parking but wants to go further.

The Algarve municipality (Faro district) will begin public discussion of a proposed regulation to prohibit caravans and motorhomes from spending the night within urban areas, as is already the case in natural parks, except for places designated for this purpose, such as service areas or campsites.

“What we need is to create more infrastructure, that is, service areas or campsites so that motorhomes can go to the right places”, argued Rute Silva.

The municipality is already licensing more service areas for motorhomes, which at this time of year invade areas next to beaches, in places that are sometimes difficult to access.

“We know that the National Republican Guard and the authorities, namely the ICNF [Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests], occasionally carry out assessments and inspections. However, with the existing staff, I also understand that the authorities are unable to carry out these inspections more frequently and in a way that ensures compliance with the legislation, because what the legislation states is that overnight stays are prohibited in natural parks,” stated Rute Silva.

The responsibility for monitoring compliance with the rules falls mainly to the GNR and the Maritime Police, which sometimes have difficult tasks.

“Although this area is very popular all year round, [in the summer] most of the people who come here are foreign citizens, young people, who come looking for contact with nature, who come looking for surfing and who come from all over the world looking for these paradisiacal places”, said the commander of the GNR’s Portimão Territorial Detachment, Francisca Albergaria.

The security forces try to make offenders aware of the rules, but in many situations, they must be more aggressive.

“Our main approach and what we should give priority to is awareness raising, that is, informing people, giving them the necessary information so that they know what they can and cannot do. But we have reached a point where we cannot turn a blind eye to the infractions that are before us, and then we will have to start monitoring, and, if people do commit an infraction, we must move on to legislation and issue fines”, said Francisca Albergaria.

This year, seven inspections have been carried out with a total of 51 officers, and 171 reports of misdemeanours have been drawn up.

Regular complaints

“The main problem is that this type of tourism often does not comply with our national rules or regulations, or with national legislation, and as a result, it behaves in a deviant manner. The main problem is here in the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina, where we regularly receive complaints from locals”, said the captain of the Port of Lagos and local commander of the Maritime Police, Hugo da Guia.

There are currently two service areas or campsites that can accommodate caravans, and there will soon be five, but businesspeople in the sector want, above all, to see more information provided for this type of tourist.

“As I said, here in our municipality [Vila do Bispo], 98% are probably foreigners, many of them don’t even know what the legislation is in Portugal, many of them don’t even know that they are inside a natural park. Because even you [journalists], when you came from Faro, didn’t see any sign saying welcome to the natural park. There isn’t one, it doesn’t exist”, said the director of Salema Eco Camp, Joaquim Lourenço.

The phenomenon of motorhome tourism has reached considerable proportions in recent years in the Algarve, developing in a context of informality that has made it a focus of conflicts from an environmental and land-use planning point of view.

With proper management, this type of tourism can cease to be a threat and become an opportunity with significant economic returns.