In the middle of the trees of the Eco Camp da Salema, in Budens, in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, the area reserved for campervans has an occupation of more than a hundred people, but this year it is not only mainly retired tourists on the site. “Our site used to mainly cater for senior campers in the Algarve but that has now changed completely.

“We are now welcoming many people aged between 40-45 years, with many ‘digital nomads’, working from a distance and others coming to the site to escape the urban centres of Europe and spend lockdown in nature and possibly one of the safest places that exists, “ said Joaquim Lourenço, leader of the Association of Camping Parks Alentejo and Algarve (APCAA).

This is the new reality for many camp sites in the region where there is now an increased demand for “sea sports such as surfing and spear fishing”, and where it is possible to “ally life in nature”. On the other hand, the infrastructure so often sought after by the “seniors” presents a “lower demand”, he added. The head and owner of Eco Camp da Salema mentions the investment he had to make in improving the internet access network, such was the search for people in telework.

In March last year, during the first lockdown decreed by the Government under the Covid-19 pandemic, campsites had to close, reopening only in mid-May with a maximum capacity of two-thirds of their total capacity. The choice of winter to attend a campsite may seem strange, but in recent years the number of campervans looking at the Algarve for a winter season has been growing. According to data from the Regional Development Coordination Commission (CCDR) of the Algarve, in the period from October 2018 to March 2019 there were almost 528,000 overnight stays for about 104,000 guests in the campsites and legal service areas of the region.

For the entity that manages the Motorhome Reception Network in the Algarve, this is only “a fraction of what is happening in the region”, estimating that “between wild campervans and illegal parks there is a movement at least equal, or even greater”.

It was on a walk with her dog through Salema park that Lusa meets Johanna August, a young German tourist who reveals she feels “safer” in Portugal, especially in a “very quiet” area like the one she found in this part of the Algarve region, where she can be “in nature” and easily go out to “take a walk”. Currently “studying”, she has been in Portugal since September last year. She points out that where “there is much more population” and with confinement she cannot “leave home”. But as she chooses to live in her ‘van’ - a vehicle adapted for accommodation - she 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, it gives me the feeling that they can handle the situation. They’re not so afraid,” she says.

The possibility of isolating yourself in your campervan is also one of the advantages pointed out by Ian Davis, a Welsh tourist who chose Salema for the coldest winter months, after a two-month stay in the Coimbra area in October. While watching his wife in a ‘yoga’ session, and overcoming the obvious added value of the Portuguese climate compared to Wales, he also highlights the fact that the couple has everything they need in the ‘van’ – kitchen and bathroom – leaving ‘just for shopping’. The area where they settled ensures the “distance” between people, reinforcing their “notion of security”. “We can go out, walk and go to the beach without seeing too many people, so we feel very safe and welcomed here. We are not intruders or a threat to someone,” he said. With a date back to Wales only “in July”, Ian reveals that during the first lockdown, in March last year, they were in a campsite in New Zealand and considers the notion of security that he feels in this “rural area of Portugal” “very similar” to that found on the other side of the world.

Almost 60 kilometres away, camping de Armação de Pera, in the municipality of Silves, reflects the reduction in demand for campsites usually sought after by senior campervans. Rui Claro stresses that 2019 “was a year of growth compared to 2018” and that “until February, early March” last year, everything was going “as expected”. But with the Covid-19 pandemic it was “all in decline.” A tour of the park reveals about 50 campervans for tourists who chose to spend their winter season here, a clientele essentially made up of Dutch, English and French pensioners.

On a walk with their pet, an English couple once again points to the climate and safety as reasons for choosing the Algarve for their winter season. “In the UK there are more people and people are not listening to the Government, they are having a lot of silly parties. Here they listen, wear masks and clean everything”, defends Richard Everton. For Maureen Everton, hospitality is one of the strengths of the Portuguese people and the couple said 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. This is an opinion shared by fellow hiker Peggy Wakeford, a regular resident of the park, where she claims to have felt “much safer” at the time of the March 2020 confinement “than in the UK”. Peggy even says she is “shocked” by what she found in the UK when she returned in July, especially because “few people care about Covid-19, compared to the behavioor” she saw in Portugal, at the level of “wearing masks and gloves”, for example.

For camping entrepreneurs, the forecasts for the summer are not easy, but Rui Claro reveals hope that the vaccine can “bring more confidence”, reducing “the scary numbers” of new cases and make “people feel more comfortable to leave home and go on holidays”. Joaquim Lourenço prefers to look at new opportunities and challenges facing businesses and the need for “a job well done” in promoting what he says are the country’s added value. The entrepreneur points out that the Portuguese coast brings together many places for surfing, the “engine of the economy of the new young customer”.

Author

Following undertaking her university degree in English with American Literature in the UK, Cristina da Costa Brookes moved back to Portugal to pursue a career in Journalism, where she has worked at The Portugal News for 3 years. Cristina’s passion lies with Arts & Culture as well as sharing all important community-related news.

Cristina da Costa Brookes