Why to join a Club ?

It happened often to me, during my trips and during my stops, to hear others motor-home drivers, that they don’t wish to join a Club because they love with their freedom and independence.

        As every motor-home driver, I too love my freedom and my independence too, nevertheless it is very important to show solidarity with other motor-home drivers to stand fast a serial of difficulties which could rot our way of life.

        First of all we live in a context where different groupings make all their possible to prevent the developing of the motor-homes. I think of the hotel-keepers, of several camping-keepers, of some « aesthetes ». They would like to canalize our MH, to park as livestock, to prevent any personal enterprise. This is the reason why it is important to assemble us to show to the authorities and to interested persons that we are jointly liable and we intend to defend our philosophy.

        Second point we have to count on politics authorities, with they who decide and who, often, knows nothing about the Motor-Homes and they have in their mind only the ideas hawked by our antagonists.

It’s well thanks to the engagement of the IFMC and of the french clubs that the highways of this Country revised the fares for the MH and we could obtain too some favours for crossing the S.Bernard tunnel. Some municipalities understood the economical potential of the MH and for this reason they opened some welcoming service areas.

        The IFMC npmio doesn’t exist only to organize the EURO CC, it looks for interlocutors in Bruxelles to find a solution to the problems of driving licences, of weight, of parking and so on.

        In return, of course, we ask to ours members to show their ecological integrity, to leave behind them a positive image ; to work in the way so that the tourist operators regrets our departure.

        In short, to join a Club isn’t only the way to take part in EuroCC and others festivals with others MH drivers, but it is a solidarity act with the intention of consolidate our big family.

        You have to hawk this idea around you, dears IFMC members, You have to explain to others MH drivers that it isn’t the reasonable cost of the membership,  it isn’t for ours mega-meetings, but it is especially to show to the authorities that we are numerous, we are a big economical potential, that we are accountable people and we respect our environment, that we aren’t competitive with hotels because if a MH can’t stop somewhere, he won’t go in an hotel, but he ‘ll go away .

        Some Clubs collects all the tickets of the shops where they spend money during a meeting or a trip. This to show to the municipalities that it is  economically interesting to have MH in their areas. Also because, in his charter, the IFMC  asks to the members to spend money where they stops and it is everytime interesting to have a contact with commercials.

        We have still a long way to go before we are everywhere accepted, it isn’t tomorrow that the Côte d’Azur will take off the gates along the coasts, but I am sure that a day the authorities ‘ll understand that the tourism develops and the time where the tourism was synonymous of luxurious lounges and the MH tourism grows every day more and more.

        For all those reasons it is very important do join a Club, we must give more power to ours Clubs, we have to stick together even if it isn’t necessary to participate at all the trips that the Clubs organizes. The fact to be a membership is a target to preserve our freedoms.

                                                       Pully, may 10th 2009

                                                       Alessandro Ichino

                                                       President IFMC npmio