Statue of the skier at the entrance to the public parking lot of Baqueira, where, in the background, the motorhomes are located.Kike Rincon (Kike Rincon)
The image of workers in the tourism sector living in vans, motorhomes or even paying to sleep on balconies in the towns of Ibiza because they cannot afford to rent apartments in high season has long ceased to be a novelty: it is something that happens year after year on an island that receives mass tourism every summer that strains the housing stock.
Now, although to a lesser extent, it is also beginning to be a reality in the most touristy towns in the Pyrenees, associated with snow sports, with the aggravating circumstance that it is cold there.
In the car parks near the ski slopes of Baqueira Beret (in the Catalan region of Vall d'Aran) or those of Formigal-Panticosa (in the area of Alto Gállego, in Aragon) it is increasingly common to find tourists, but also workers in the sector,
who live in vans or motorhomes, and who do so because they cannot afford rising rents.
In Baqueira, in addition, they regret that a municipal ordinance prevents them from spending the night this year in the parking lots closest to the ski resort, forcing them to travel to the workplace with the house on their backs.
The collective demands that this way of spending the season be regulated, and that spaces with services be enabled.
It is noon and in the so-called parking lot of 1,500, in the town of Baqueira (which belongs to the municipality of Naut Aran) dozens of motorhomes and vans remain in a parking area that has been reserved for these vehicles.
Some 150, according to the calculations of the workers themselves, belong to employees of the sector.
They take advantage of what is left of light to charge their solar panels, but this car park, located just below a mountain, has little direct sun left.
Until recently, these vehicles could park and spend the night in car parks that are even closer to the ski slopes, like Orri, which is located higher up and where you just get out of the car, put on your skis and start riding. zigzag down.
At Orri they could better load the panels and use their systems with hardly having to start the engine.
But this year, given the increase in motorhome and campervan tourism since the pandemic, the Naut Aran City Council and the Conselh Generau d'Aran have decided to apply a municipal ordinance, in force since 2017, that prevents overnight stays in the natural environment, which affects car parks located at higher levels.
The fines range from 300 to 3,000 euros, and since the beginning of December the Mossos d'Esquadra have already made at least half a dozen complaints.
The administration argues that an agglomeration of these vehicles entails damage to the environment and difficulties in having sufficient means to guarantee the safety of people who spend the night at high altitudes, who may be trapped by the snow.
Jesús Gallardo, president of the PACA association, which represents the motorhome sector in Spain, explains that until now the ordinance was not applied because few motorhomes went up, but now, with the rise of this type of vehicle, problems have appeared .
“The Conselh has powers to apply this ordinance, and wants to remove responsibilities in case something happens.
He has promised us that he will penalize all those who stay the night, both motorhomes and cars, and has allowed them to park in towns in the valley.
This conflict reveals a reality that is becoming more and more evident: the high prices for renting apartments have forced tourists and workers to use vehicles to sleep.
María, who prefers not to give her last name, has been working on the ski slopes for 20 years, and she had always rented an apartment during the working season in Baqueira.
“It cost me about 300 euros with expenses included, but now either there are no homes, or the cheapest is for 700, and with our salaries, they are abusive.
In addition, they usually ask that you pay every month together at the beginning, ”she explains.
María is self-employed as a ski teacher, for which she receives about 1,500 euros per month (to which the season pass must be deducted —750 euros for the entire period—, the self-employed fee —294 euros per month— and work tools),
a salary that complements, when he ends up on the slopes, with his work in a restaurant in the area.
Given the increase in housing prices, five years ago she decided to start living in a motorhome: "So we were four cats doing this, but now it is true that there is a boom."
The conversation is joined by other workers who were in their vehicles or returning from work to eat.
One who prefers to remain anonymous explains that he has been working on the slopes for eight years, and three that he has lived in a motorhome.
"The problem is that housing has become very expensive, but it is also that there is none: you start looking and you can't find it, and instead you go to Airbnb and it's full," he explains about the practice of renting flats for days to tourists, instead of doing it seasonally.
with his job at a local restaurant.
Given the increase in housing prices, five years ago she decided to start living in a motorhome: "Then we were four cats doing this, but now it is true that there is a boom."
The conversation is joined by other workers who were in their vehicles or returning from work to eat.
One who prefers to remain anonymous explains that he has been working on the slopes for eight years, and three that he has lived in a motorhome.
"The problem is that housing has become very expensive, but it is also that there is none: you start looking and you can't find it, and instead you go to Airbnb and it's full," he explains about the practice of renting flats for days to tourists, instead of doing it seasonally.
with his job at a local restaurant.
Given the increase in housing prices, five years ago she decided to start living in a motorhome: "Then we were four cats doing this, but now it is true that there is a boom."
The conversation is joined by other workers who were in their vehicles or returning from work to eat.
One who prefers to remain anonymous explains that he has been working on the slopes for eight years, and three that he has lived in a motorhome.
"The problem is that housing has become very expensive, but it is also that there is none: you start looking and you can't find it, and instead you go to Airbnb and it's full," he explains about the practice of renting flats for days to tourists, instead of doing it seasonally.
five years ago he decided to start living in a motorhome: “So we were four cats doing this, but now it is true that there is a boom”.
The conversation is joined by other workers who were in their vehicles or returning from work to eat.
One who prefers to remain anonymous explains that he has been working on the slopes for eight years, and three that he has lived in a motorhome.
"The problem is that housing has become very expensive, but it is also that there is none: you start looking and you can't find it, and instead you go to Airbnb and it's full," he explains about the practice of renting flats for days to tourists, instead of doing it seasonally.
five years ago he decided to start living in a motorhome: “So we were four cats doing this, but now it is true that there is a boom”.
The conversation is joined by other workers who were in their vehicles or returning from work to eat.
One who prefers to remain anonymous explains that he has been working on the slopes for eight years, and three that he has lived in a motorhome.
"The problem is that housing has become very expensive, but it is also that there is none: you start looking and you can't find it, and instead you go to Airbnb and it's full," he explains about the practice of renting flats for days to tourists, instead of doing it seasonally.
The conversation is joined by other workers who were in their vehicles or returning from work to eat.
One who prefers to remain anonymous explains that he has been working on the slopes for eight years, and three that he has lived in a motorhome.
"The problem is that housing has become very expensive, but it is also that there is none: you start looking and you can't find it, and instead you go to Airbnb and it's full," he explains about the practice of renting flats for days to tourists, instead of doing it seasonally.
The conversation is joined by other workers who were in their vehicles or returning from work to eat.
One who prefers to remain anonymous explains that he has been working on the slopes for eight years, and three that he has lived in a motorhome.
"The problem is that housing has become very expensive, but it is also that there is none: you start looking and you can't find it, and instead you go to Airbnb and it's full," he explains about the practice of renting flats for days to tourists, instead of doing it seasonally.
Several motorhomes and camper vans in the area designated for overnight stays in the Baqueira public car park.
In the background, the Tuc d'Unha mountain.Kike Rincon (Kike Rincon)
They all agree that if they could live in an apartment, they would not be in a vehicle: "No one likes to be in two square meters living at five degrees," says Álvaro, who comes home from work with ski boots in hand.
His day to day, in winter, is marked by the cold, by having to get up to clean the solar panels so that they work, by making sure that the pipes do not freeze... but he explains that many times it is the only option.
“The valley is suffering the same as mass tourism areas like Ibiza.
I decided to live like this two years ago so as not to have to look for a house for four months beforehand”, he explains.
The expenses, Gallardo details, are very low in a motorhome: "350 euros of insurance per year, electricity is free due to the solar panels, consumption in the shower does not exceed 15 liters of water",
to which must be added diesel for heating and travel.
That, counting on the fact that the price of second-hand motorhomes and vans has risen after the pandemic.
Gallardo asks that the activity be regulated with service points, while understanding that the populations "are not prepared to take on 500 or 600 motorhomes at once."
The situation, he explains, is the same in the Aragonese Pyrenees, especially on the Formigal-Panticosa slopes.
In Baqueira, the workers demand that they not be criminalized.
"There are more and more people, and it will have to be regulated, but they don't have to persecute us," says María.
Rubén Montero, a member of PACA, is not a worker but is a ski fan who has also chosen to stay in his motorhome.
“The restriction policy is going to cause much bigger problems than there were.
First of all, traffic and pollution, because we will have to leave the parking lot every day to go to the slopes.
And on the other hand, they are disdaining a business that is important: the average cost in the valley is 100 euros a day per motorhome, between gasoline, restaurants, services... and there are currently some 700 in the Aran valley”, explains, while regretting that in Spain there is no culture of camping and this type of vehicle,
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