The housing crisis is forcing residents and seasonal workers to live in vehicles, while the new law further tightens conditions for them. Unregistered vehicles entering the island must book a campsite, which costs approximately €1,800 per month.
Limiting vehicle access during peak season has garnered broad social support due to the enormous pressure on the roads of an island with more cars and motorcycles than inhabitants. In the first year of implementation, the Island Council approved a maximum quota of 20,168 vehicles, including those with tax residence on the island, as reported by the institution. Therefore, vehicles from outside the island must register on the ibizacircular.es platform to travel during this period, after paying a fee of one euro per day. Minor violations carry fines of between €300 and €1,000, while serious violations are punishable by fines of between €1,001 and €10,000, and very serious violations by fines of between €10,001 and €30,000.
Campsites: €1,800 per month
However, the regulations differentiate between different types of vehicles: To arrive on the island with a campervan, you must book a campsite in advance (there are five campsites with a total of approximately 200 pitches across the island), which also costs €1,800 per month. The Island Council, which is responsible for rural land, expressly prohibits the parking of vehicles—whether or not they are campervans—on such land. This prohibition applies regardless of the vehicle’s tax residency. Since municipal regulations in four of the five municipalities prohibit overnight stays in motorhomes, these motorhome residents seek rustic sites as an alternative for longer parking stays.
There are various profiles, but the majority are seasonal workers who work in the tourism industry for between six and seven months and choose this option because they cannot find a viable alternative in the rental market. The problem is not new, and the two legislative periods of the progressive government have not resolved it. However, difficulties are increasing, and the situation continues to worsen, with the Popular Party in power in the island’s five municipalities, as well as in the Island Council and the Consolat de Mar, the seat of the Balearic government.
In response to the “discrimination” that those affected claim to experience, the association AMMICCA (Friends of Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza in Caravans and Motorhomes) was founded in 2020 to defend the rights of Balearic residents. “We are beginning to understand the urgent need to form associations to defend ourselves and be heard by the administrations.”
But the efforts failed. “It was a waste of time and energy,” complains one member. In their view, they delegated the need to regulate the RV sector to the administrations in order to “carry out the activity sustainably and respectfully.” The response they received was that they feared “there would be more and more settlements.”
In reality, they are simply asking the city councils and the island council to allow them to rest in their properly parked vehicles without camping or causing a disturbance. “We just want the [government] regulations to be respected,” says Montse, adding that instead of criminalizing the entire group, the authorities “should punish those who do it wrong.” “Parking spaces and minimum payment services would be a great help and a real solution to regulate this group,” she emphasizes. When drafting new laws affecting motorhomes, “state directives should be taken into account.”
“This violates constitutional rights”
Jesús Gallardo, president of the National Platform of Autonomous Motorhomes, met with the Island Council to negotiate an alternative solution, but without success. He also serves as the legal representative of some of Ibiza’s motorhome owners. “It’s a law that violates constitutional rights,” he told elDiario.es, citing Article 19 of the Spanish Constitution, which refers to “freedom of movement throughout the national territory.”
In this context, he questions why this “discrimination” is applied to motorhomes, while a car “can enter and park anywhere on the island and in any public or private parking lot.” He believes that the regulations de facto prohibit a motorhome from entering the island without making a reservation in a parking lot, even though the island is responsible for regulating parking.
Camping and traffic are the responsibility of the municipalities, based on the law governing local regulations.
Furthermore, it is emphasized that the obligation to register on the island in the place where a citizen lives for at least half the year has been violated. This is an obligation that a city council must fulfill. “A motorhome is a vehicle home, which is authorized and recognized as such by the Constitutional Court. Therefore, it is mandatory that the person is registered in the vehicle home,” explains the lawyer. Furthermore, the instructions from the Ministry of the Interior via the DGT are clear: “Any vehicle parked on public roads without violating ground signage, markings, or vertical markings can be parked like any other vehicle,” he says.
For this reason, he has filed a brief with allegations, even though the law cannot be challenged. “To file an appeal, you first have to start applying the law. There has to be a complaint, the Island Council issues the order, and we enter a phase of accusations and appeals. If it goes first to the Supreme Court and then to the Constitutional Court, it could take a decade before a final decision is made,” explains Gallardo.
The Island Council’s Position
In response to questions from elDiario.es, the Island Council stated that registered motorhomes with tax residence on the island that operate on municipal property must in all cases comply with municipal regulations. The regulation for motorhomes located on rural property is set out in the Law on the Control of Vehicle Inflows.
Regarding the alleged unconstitutionality of the regulation, sources from the Island Council confirm that representatives of the caravan group canceled a demonstration planned for May 1 after meeting with members of the executive branch to dispel doubts about the new law. “They realized their demands had no place,” the sources interviewed said.
Gallardo told elDiario.es that the protest was canceled because some demonstrators intended to carry out actions that could harm the organizers. “They said they would block roads, that they would stop camper vans from entering the street. I wasn’t prepared to hold a demonstration of this kind. The end does not justify the means,” the lawyer said.
At the meeting, the Island Council explained, among other things, that the law does not affect caravanners with tax residency in Ibiza and that the ban on parking and overnight stays on rural land does not apply to those who have their camper vans on property they own.
The Island Council also frames these measures in the context of the fight against illegal rentals, as there are owners of rustic properties who use their land to conduct business by illegally renting out properties, as happened in the shanty town of Can Rova. These measures aim to “promote regulated, high-quality accommodation in the vicinity of criminals and those who exploit the name of Ibiza without contributing anything to society.” In a statement dated April 16, the island’s highest authority reported that the number of illegal caravan rental notices on the Airbnb platform had been reduced from 350 to 20 following an agreement between the Island Council and the technology company to prosecute irregularities related to illegal tourist rentals.
On March 28, the Island Council stated that the law “establishes that only those who are residents of Ibiza or who have been assigned a reserved space in a tourist camp for their parking and overnight stay may move and stay on the island,” as long as the threshold of 4,048 vehicles per day is not exceeded.
The island government also announced that there are five legal campsites across the island, with approximately 200 caravan pitches available this summer. These facilities have all the necessary permits and are located in safe environments, so they do not pose a threat to natural and protected areas.
“Caravan tourism is welcome on the island as long as it is carried out in a regulated manner in facilities such as campsites, where they can find all the services and health guarantees without affecting the natural areas of our island,” explained Mariano Juan (PP), First Vice President and Island Councilor of the Territory, during a meeting on April 21 with the directors of Ibiza’s five campsites.
