The parking and overnight area would be located in the river grove and would have the essential services of electricity and water.
Orihuela Council has said that it plans to establish a site for motorhomes next to the Segura river, just over a kilometre from the urban centre. A spokesman said that the City Council aims to attract a new visitor profile with a medium to high level of purchasing power.
The project, which is in its initial phase, will be a responsibility of the Department of the Environment managed by councillor Dámaso Aparicio and would have all the essential services including electricity, water and waste management and in a space adequate to meet the demand of those users.
The site would be located in the area of soto I6, an area given by the Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS) to the Council and managed by the Department of the Environment, of about 80,000 m². It would be adjacent to a plantation of date palms established by la Universidad Miguel Hernández (UMH) de Elche and to a plot of 32 park homes recently announced by the council.
The area also has views of the Sierra de Orihuela and of the recently restored recreational area of San Cristóbal in Pinar de Bonanza, from where you can start hiking and climbing routes in the heart of natural countryside.
The initiative aims to attract foreign tourists with both motorhomes and caravans who like to enjoy natural areas and also make trips to the historic cities. The main difficulty has always been to find an authorised area in which the parking of these vehicles would allowed.
There are also 70,000 motorhomes and caravans registered in Spain. Despite the pandemic, and the limitations that it has brought, there has nevertheless been a 20% increase in the registration of new motorhomes in Spain, according to the data published by the Spanish Association of Caravaning Industry and Commerce (ASEICAR), which constantly denounces a lack of available sites, with only 1,100 in the country (119 in the Valencian Community) compared to 6,000 in countries such as France and Germany.
It is estimated that 250,000 motorhomes travel through Spain every year with an average occupancy of three people per vehicle, which represents an estimate of 750,000 people in total who spend more than 385 million euros in shops (150 euros per day on an average route of 17 days), according to ASEICAR.
