The Lanzarote Campers Association is "disappointed" by the "low occupancy" of the Papagayo campsite, after "months of struggle" to get the Cabildo to enable an area for this activity. Until this Monday, only a third of its surface has been occupied, after its opening last Thursday the 15th. This Sunday, there were 24 caravans and two houses.
Antonio Santana, vice president of the association, does not understand "why people have not come in the end", although he believes it may be for several reasons. One of them is that campers have to pay 7 euros a day for the caravan, but this year they do not have electricity.
"We go with batteries, because motors are also prohibited," explains Santana. "There are people who say that to pay 7 euros and not have electricity, they will not go. But I fought so much and now they do not go. I do not understand it", laments Santana. What the Cabildo has installed is a water tank for the campers and solar panels that illuminate the caravan and parking area at night.
Another reason why many of the campers have not gone to the Papagayo campsite is "the lack of information on pre-registrations". Campers must go to the Cabildo to register in order to camp in the south of the island and pay the corresponding fee. "There are people who have come to camp directly and have found that they had to request it from the Cabildo. All this has been discouraging people," he indicates. To the last assembly of campers, "few people attended" who, therefore, were not informed about this pre-registration, which remains open.
Although Santana still hopes that the occupation will increase this week and "next weekend", he knows that from September it will drop again, when the children start school. "We will stay here until the end, but there will also be people who will leave," he says.