Camping in Triglav National Park

Camping in Triglav National Park

The previous fine was too low, and people mocked it, the Mayor of Bled explains.

At a meeting in Žirovnica, the mayors of the municipalities of Upper Gorenjska and the Soča Valley agreed that, even before the start of this year’s summer season, municipalities will introduce a uniform fine of €500 for illegal camping.

For years, municipalities in Upper Gorenjska have warned that penalties for illegal camping were too low, often even lower than the cost of staying at an organised campsite. The fine amounted to just over €80, or €40 if paid within eight days; under proposed amendments to the Public Order and Peace Act, it would have been €100 or €50 respectively.

A legislative amendment that came into force at the end of January introduced a different solution: the state transferred responsibility for enforcement in the area of illegal camping to local communities and removed the police’s authority to impose sanctions, said the Mayor of Žirovnica, Leopold Pogačar.

As a result, at today’s expanded coordination meeting, the mayors of Upper Gorenjska, together with their colleagues from the Soča Valley, decided that municipalities themselves would ensure order and peace in the Julian Alps biosphere area by introducing a uniform fine. The fine must be high enough to deter offenders from illegal camping, the mayors are convinced.

In line with today’s agreement, 11 mayors will propose to their municipal councils amendments to municipal ordinances introducing a uniform €500 fine for illegal camping, reduced to €250 if paid within eight days. “If the fine were lower than the price of staying overnight at an organised campsite, it would not achieve its preventive purpose. That is why we opted for such a fine, and I believe municipal councils will approve it,” said Pogačar, who expects this to happen before the start of this year’s summer season.

As the mayors emphasised, illegal camping is a major problem in tourist destinations, as people stay overnight without permission, even on private land and near natural attractions. Such camping causes disturbance to residents, noise, and environmental pollution from waste and sewage, and also results in lost revenue for organised campsites and motorhome rest areas.

The Mayor of Kobarid, Marko Matajurc, warned that tourists also camp along rivers, access roads, and even in the mountains. “They choose the most beautiful pieces of nature for their holidays,” he stressed, adding that they opt for illegal camping despite there being sufficient space in organised campsites.

Since the police will no longer be able to supervise this area, the burden will fall more heavily on inter-municipal inspectorates and municipal wardens, who are already facing staff shortages. Therefore, as the mayors assessed, it is even more important that the fine is effective and achieves its purpose.

The Mayor of Bled, Anton Mežan, believes the publicity surrounding the high, uniform fines will be so significant that violations will decline in the future. “We know that some people literally mocked the system until now and preferred to pay the fine rather than stay at a campsite,” Mežan emphasised.

The Mayor of Bled is also advocating for the state to grant greater authority to inter-municipal wardens and inspectors in other tourism-related areas, including compliance with rules by tourism accommodation providers, as municipal services can respond more quickly and effectively than state inspection bodies.

At the same time as transferring responsibilities, it is also necessary to ensure appropriate conditions so that inter-municipal inspectorates and warden services are not understaffed. As Matajurc emphasised, this is a demanding profession that must be properly valued within public administration, and with additional duties, the warden service should also be assigned higher pay grades.