Motorhoming Long-termers: Tourists or Parasites?

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Motorhoming Long-termers: Tourists or Parasites?

by ianandsue

We recently drew a comment on our blog that was hostile – an unusual event, I’m glad to say, as I do try to keep everyone happy!

The comment from “anonymous” on the North Uist and Berneray post was thus: “Well just to say that yoou are a couple of blowbags and berneray hates any type of campers and that includes YOU”

Well… that resurrected some well worn arguments about the status, intentions and merit of motorhomers who choose to free camp (little opportunity to do anything else in the autumn on the Western Isles!) and who travel for long periods.

Perhaps those arguments need another airing, so here goes:

The Western Isles, and many other places where motorhomers choose to visit, are heavily dependent on tourism for the health of their economy.

Tourism is a trade like any other - the visitors bring their money and the destination provides the facilities and services that the tourists require in exchange.

Be it a rented accommodation, a room in a B&B, a packpacker’s hostel, or as on Berneray - a free to use water and waste disposal facility for Motorhomers at the ferry terminal, these facilities provide the means by which these tourists (of which motorhomers are but merely one category) can enjoy the place they have come to visit and interact with the locals.

Long-term Motorhomers require extraordinarily little in the way of facilities and services and consequently are very cheap to accommodate, needing only a peaceful place to park overnight and somewhere to draw a relatively small amount of water (per person, per day) and dispose of their waste.

(Campsite owners who bitch about the amount of water that motorhomes fill up with before they leave should remember that many use their own facilities in the van whilst on site, we certainly do, and consequently use far less water than other campers during their stay)

Motorhomers also tend to consume roughly the same quantities of food and drink as other human beings, and they consume fuel in order to travel in their vehicles and energy to keep warm. Any motorhome travelling for more than a week will have to buy some of these essentials, in or near the place that they visit.

They will therefore, if not putting money directly into the local economy, be adding to the coffers of the regional and national economies - to the ultimate benefit of the citizen who feels compelled to complain about the presence of motorhomes!

There are unfortunately always a minority in any group of tourists who will abuse their welcome, be it motorhomers who cast their rubbish to the winds, backpackers who light fires and destroy the grass, tenants who damage the furnishings or B&B residents who nick the towels from the bathroom!

Motorhomers may be more visible, but there is no evidence that I know of that says they are any more greedy, untidy or dishonest, pro rata, than any other group of tourists.

In return, over a period of say, 12 weeks, we may easily spend an average of over £250 a week on food, fuel, (even campsites), eating out and other forms of entertainment – a sum of £3000.

Multiply that by a mere 10 motorhomes and there is a not inconsiderable some of £30,000 finding its way into local pockets in three months.

An average of a hundred motorhomes a week in an area over a year would bring in a sum of £1.3m! And that is more than likely money incoming from another region or country - foreign exchange is a valued commodity!

(Most other tourists are “come and gone” in a week or two, so despite their weekly higher spend, we probably put more into a country or area over our longer stay than the average package holiday couple.)

Motorhomers have another merit. They travel to places out of season, in conditions when finding any other kind of tourist could be very difficult indeed. We are all year round tourists, and thus can bring vital income to areas, like the Western Isles in Scotland, at a time when the economy is really struggling - thus helping to preserve vital local services like shops and pubs.

One final point. Motorhomers use ferries, a vital lifeline for islanders, hence motorhomes travelling to remote areas can bring even more important revenue to such places.

So, we’re not such a bad lot. No worse in our way than other tourists, less demanding when we get where we’re going, and we come all year round! A very useful tourist!

See our Western Isles trip at www.motorhometrips.blogspot.com