Activities

The Galician Association of Motorhomes (AGA), for its part, accuses hoteliers of trying to confine them to campsites and restrict their right to park on an equal footing with the rest of the vehicles.

Hospitality associations in Galicia, Cantabria and the Basque Country that make up the Northern Force denounce the proliferation of illegal areas for motorhomes, in many cases with the acquiescence of local councils, a situation that they denounce is repeated in Galicia as well as Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country. Therefore, from the associations of the Northern Force: Hostelry Association of Santiago de Compostela, Provincial Association of Hotel Businessmen in La Coruña, Otea, hostelry and tourism in Asturias, Provincial Association of Hotel and Tourism Businessmen in Lugo, Hostelry Association of Cantabria, Bizkaia Hostelry Association, Associations of Hotels of Gipuzkoa and Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Gipuzkoa, demand that the administrations put an end to this situation, avoiding that the motorhomes occupy spaces destined to parking or of tourist interest, locating their vehicles to spend the night and causing damages to the tourist companies.

The hoteliers recognize that motorhome tourism is important for the sector and that it contributes to the arrival of travelers, so it should be valued, but demand that they use the legally established areas and establishments that exist throughout northern Spain for this purpose, such as campsites and tourist campsites, which offer all the services that a stay of quality requires promoting a quality motorhome tourism that avoids the motorhomes themselves as well as neighbors and visitors.

“Both the Basque Country, as Cantabria, Asturias or Galicia, have a significant number of campsites and tourist camps with total professionalism, are entities that pay their taxes, and offer spaces and plots of quality and a full range of services for motorhome tourists to receive quality care in line with that offered in other modes of accommodation,” they say so they do not understand that from the public administrations are offered public spaces for these vehicles, with hardly any services and maintenance, control or monitoring, producing a visual and environmental deterioration enormous. “We believe that both regional governments and city councils must avoid this chaos. If not, every summer, we are doomed to repeat the same problems, in the face of despair entrepreneurs and neighbors who see degraded tourist spaces valuable”.

Loss for localities without campsites

For its part, the Galician Association of Motorhomes (AGA) accuses hoteliers of trying to confine them to campsites and thus deprive them of their right to park on an equal footing with the rest of the vehicles. AGA stresses that “motorhomes must be able to decide freely where to consume”, rejecting the prices of the hoteliers of Fuerza del Norte to force motorhomes to use only campsites for their stays and overnight stays, because they understand that they are the only ones who offer all the quality services required, which can not be more uncertain, “says AGA, which adds that “access to campsites should be an option and not an obligation.

The association warns that limiting parking for motorhomes to campsites would mean significant losses for many localities and small businesses. “Acceding to the request would prevent the arrival in Galicia motorhomes in the months when they are closed (much of the year) and limited to coastal areas, since in the interior there are hardly campsites. Those villages that do not have campsites would be excluded,” stresses AGA, the largest motorhome grouping in Spain by number of members.

AGA maintains that Galicia is “a reference point for itinerant tourism at national and European level” and, therefore, perceives as dangerous restrictions claimed by the North Force, limitations that, as reported, do not exist in any other country in Europe, while expressing its commitment to the promotion of good practices and respect for regulations among users of motorhomes.