Like the head of a Gallic village, the irreducible Roger Pla, 74, resists. His five-star campsite in Canet-en-Roussillon (Pyrénées-Orientales), he will not sell it. However, many suitors are eyeing the Brasilia with its 700 pitches in a pine forest, on the shores of the Mediterranean. Their profile: groups specializing in what is now called “outdoor accommodation”, in the hands of investment funds seeking growth.
A few months ago, one of them was ready to sign him a check for 40 million euros, Mr. Pla tells us, in the office of his whole life, decorated with trophies and photos. Forty million! He said no. What would he do with this sum, he who has neither child, nor wife, nor heir? “I’m not going to the end of the world! »
He wants to die on stage, to come to his office at the campsite every day. And continue to live, from April to September, opening period, in a modest bungalow behind the reception. “Without Brasilia, I am dead. Without Brasilia, I no longer exist”, says Roger Pla. Behind him, a large photo of René and Simone, his parents, founders of the campsite, seems to stand guard.
The Brasilia alone tells a piece of the history of camping in France. A story of families, of transmission of heritage, where the characters are often children of farmers or heirs to the nobility. “People who own land”, sums up Nicolas Dayot, the president of the National Federation of Outdoor Hotels (FNHPA). Like many other campsites along the Mediterranean coast, the Brasilia was born in the 1960s, at a time when there were only swamps and agricultural land.
Spectacular upgrade
In 1962, René Pla, a small winegrower, owner of a plot by the sea, listened to President Charles de Gaulle talk about this famous “Root Mission”a coastal development megaproject that was to give birth to Port Leucate, Port Barcarès and La Grande-Motte. “The new Florida! », they said at the time.
Right in the target area, René Pla sees it as the time to get started: no more vines, hello camping. The steamroller of the Delegation for regional planning and regional action (Datar) allows it to obtain administrative authorizations smoothly. Roads and pipes follow. In 1964 Brasilia was born – soon after the Brazilian capital, which also popped up in the middle of nowhere.
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