The motorcaravan brigade that in February were welcomed back by an increasingly desperate Silves council again have been moved on by an intransigent police force which continues to uphold the law about parking in public spaces.
The latest police action occurred without liaison with Silves council which is trying to encourage the motorcaravanners’ return to boost an ailing local economy.
The police said they again moved on the motorcaravan owners due to further complaints from local citizens but the restaurateurs and café owners in the city again are staring at empty seats and low sales as a result.
Silves council was represented at the March all-council meeting where this problem was discussed and announced that it was to prepare its riverside area to make it motorcaravan-friendly with the installation of water supply and sanitation services, ‘at a small charge.’
The police are acting within the law, as they were in February, and until the area officially is designated as a motorcaravan park officers no doubt will continue to move these confused holidaymakers away from the Silves riverside parking area.
The situation has polarised opinion with many seeing access to free parking as freeloading. The motorcaravanners claim to be able to spend more on local goods and services as a result of not having to pay any parking fees.
A recent survey by the CCDR-Algarve claims this type of tourist spends €50 a day when on tour. The overcrowding in the Algarve is evident as David Santos from CCDR-Algarve said in March there were only 12 properly structured and regulated motorcaravan parks in the Algarve in 2013, which took in "about 40,000 motorcaravans," although there are 90 locations where they are known to congregate.
Santos added that there are more than enough reasons for putting in place a “strategy for accommodating the motorcaravanners," to be coordinated by the CCDR-Algarve in partnership with the Algarve Tourism Board, the Intermunicipal Community of Algarve (AMAL), and associations representing motorcaravanners.
While these 'entities' continue to talk about the problem, the police will continue to uphold the law, in Silves at least.
