The city’s two caravan parks are full and hundreds of northern European visitors are helping the local economy trundle through what would otherwise be a quieter winter.
Lusa News Agency visited Vila Real de Santo António (VRSA) this week and reported how the area’s two caravan parks – one located on the banks of the Guadiana River and the other next to Manta Rota beach – have registered “interesting returns” for the municipal company SGU which runs them.
SGU administrator Paulo Pires told Lusa the two parks, which have a capacity of around 120 places each, welcome a number of people that “allows life to be brought to the tiny population of Manta Rota” and create a “turning point in seasonality” by keeping local cafés, restaurants and supermarkets busy through winter.
Pires said initial investment made in the venture was “minimal”: “It was a car park that in winter was unoccupied, we created the sanitary discharging stations, a reception, wifi for all and we ensured electricity, it didn’t need more than that. It was all done at a very low cost and has had interesting returns”, he explained, stressing “seven or eight” jobs have also been created in the process.
According to Pires, takings are in the region of €200,000 a year, while expenditure is no more than €100,000 a year.