Campers and motorhome drivers choose the Algarve's campsites to comply with the confinement imposed due to the covid-19 pandemic, some combining nature with telework, highlighting the safety conditions they find in the south of the country.
Amidst the trees of the Eco Camp da Salema, in Budens, in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, the area reserved for motorhomes is occupied by more than a hundred people, with the usual retired tourists, but not only.
«We had a retired senior camping client in the Algarve, and that has completely changed. We are aged around 40-45 years old, with many digital nomads, working at a distance, with many people who decided to leave the large urban centers of Europe and pass the confinement in the middle of nature, possibly in the safest place that exists, which is Portugal and the Algarve», revealed to Lusa Joaquim Lourenço, manager of the Association of Camping Parks of Alentejo and Algarve (APCAA).
This is the new reality most present in parks where there is a demand for «sea sports, such as surfing and spearfishing», and where it is possible to «combine life in nature». On the other hand, infrastructures normally sought by seniors have a “lower demand”, he added.
The manager and owner of Eco Camp Salema refers to the investment he had to make in improving the Internet access network, such was the demand for people teleworking.
In March of last year, during the first confinement decreed by the Government as part of the Covid-19 pandemic, the campsites had to close, reopening only in mid-May with a maximum capacity of two-thirds of their full capacity.
The choice of winter to attend a campsite may seem strange, but in recent years the number of motorhome drivers seeking the Algarve for a winter season has been growing.
According to data from the Algarve's Regional Development Coordination Commission (CCDR), in the period from October 2018 to March 2019 there were almost 528 thousand overnight stays for around 104 thousand guests in the Camping Parks and Legal Service Areas in the region.
For the entity that manages the Algarve Motorhomes Reception Network, this is only «a fraction of what is happening in the region», estimating that «between wild motorhomes and illegal parks there is a movement at least equal, or even greater».
It was on a walk with her dog through the Salema park that Lusa meets Johanna August, a young German tourist who reveals that she feels "safer" in Portugal, especially in a "very quiet" area like the one she found in this part of the Algarve region, where you can be "in nature" and easily go out "for a walk".
Currently «studying», he has been in Portugal since September last year. He emphasizes that where he lives “there is much more population” and with confinement, he cannot “leave his home”. But how did you choose to live in your of – vehicle adapted for accommodation – you can “jump out of the van” and be “in the middle of the trees”, something that is not possible in the city.
“I feel safer and I don't meet so many people, who also seem happier here. It gives me the feeling that they can handle the situation. They're not so afraid», he points out.
The possibility of being isolated in his motorhome is also one of the advantages pointed out by Ian Davis, a Welsh tourist who chose Salema for the colder winter months, after a two-month stay in the Coimbra area in October.
While observing his wife at a yoga session, and overcoming the evident added value of the Portuguese climate in relation to Wales, the almost sixty-year-old highlights the fact that the couple has everything they need in their van - kitchen and bathroom - , leaving «only for shopping».
The area where they settled guarantees the “distance” between people, reinforcing their “sense of security”.
“We can go out, walk and go to the beach without seeing a lot of people, so we feel very safe and welcomed here. We are not intruders or a threat to anyone», he emphasizes.
With a date of return to his homeland only "in July", Ian reveals that during the first confinement, in March of last year, they were at a campsite in New Zealand and considers the sense of security he feels in this "rural" area of Portugal «very similar» to the one he found on the other side of the world.
Almost 60 kilometers away, the Armação de Pera Camping, in the municipality of Silves, reflects the reduced demand for campsites usually sought by senior motorhome drivers.
«We are in the order of 65% of sales break in relation to 2019. 2021 is starting in the same order of loss», reveals the park manager to Lusa.
Rui Claro emphasizes that 2019 «was a year of growth in relation to 2018» and that «until February, beginning of March» of last year, everything was going «as expected». But with the Covid-19 pandemic “everything went down”.
A walk through the park reveals about fifty motorhomes of tourists who have chosen to spend their winter season here, a clientele mainly composed of Dutch, English and French retirees.
On a walk with their pet, an English couple once again points out the climate and safety as the reasons for choosing the Algarve for their winter season.
“In the UK there is more population and people are not listening to the Government, they are having a lot of silly parties. Here they are listening, wearing a mask and cleaning everything”, defends Richard Everton.
For Maureen Everton, hospitality is one of the strengths of the Portuguese people and the couple adds that they are selling a house they own in France with the prospect of buying another in the Algarve, where they hope to move more frequently.
Opinion shared by hiking partner Peggy Wakeford, a regular resident of the park, where she says she felt "much safer" at the time of the March 2020 confinement than "than in the UK".
Peggy even claims to feel "shocked" by what she found in the UK when she returned in July, mainly because "few people care about Covid-19, compared to the behaviors" she saw in Portugal, at the level of " use of mask and gloves”, for example.
For the camping entrepreneurs, the forecasts for the summer are not easy, but Rui Claro reveals the hope that the vaccine can “bring more confidence”, reducing “the scary numbers” of new cases and making “people feel more comfortable to leave home and spend vacations«.
Joaquim Lourenço, on the other hand, prefers to look at new opportunities and challenges the entities to do “a very well done job” in promoting what he says are the country's greatest assets.
The businessman highlights that the Portuguese coast has many places for surfing, the «engine of the economy of the new young customer».
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