This Sunday, queues of pilgrims and tourists formed again to access the Cathedral. PACO RODRIGUEZ
The president of the Xunta anticipates that the occupation of this beginning of April ventures an exceptional vern
10 abr 2023 . Updated at 6:06 p.m.
Galicia has closed this year a Holy Week fantsticawith occupancy data that, in many points, have exceeded 90% and reached full house and with an important push from the Camino de Santiagowhat is taking off like never beforeThis was stated by the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, when asked by the media about the tourist results of the community upon his arrival at the headquarters of the PP in Madrid to participate in the Executive Committee.
With the good weather, which accompanies tourism, explained Rueda, the forecasts of associations and businessmen in the tourism sector that ranged from 60 to 80% have even been exceeded, with destinations such as Santiago and the Ras Baixas in which total capacity has been reachedand in others practically 90%. Therefore, a very good balance that predicts an exceptional summerseal.
Regarding the Camino de Santiago, said the president of the Xunta that is taking off like never before.We are now almost doubling last year’s holy year numbers, which were already record numbershe explained, very satisfied with some figures of more than 10% of Galicia’s GDP, which predicts a great year for 2023 as well for Galician tourism.
Santiago, full of pilgrims
According to the data presented by the president of Hostelera Compostela, Thor Rodríguez, occupancy at Easter was around 75% on average in Santiagoa figure that he has defined as very good, taking into account the hotel capacity of the city, with a large offer.
Most of those who arrived in Santiago were pilgrims, so the reactivation of the route is already noticeable. Thus, Rodríguez has pointed out that a clear reflection of this has been the queue to access the Cathedral, which these days reached the Ría Nova.
Regarding the origin of the travelers, the majority have been nationals, although there have also been many Italians and English. In addition to the rooms, in the restoration they have also appreciated the influx of day trips of the Galicians themselvesas well as Portuguese, to the city, with a high concentration of people at lunch and dinner hours.
take off the road
Holy Week closed with something more than 14,000 compostelas sealed by the Pilgrim’s Office between April 1, the start weekend of these festivities, and Easter Sunday. With this, what is traditionally considered the start of the high season in Galicia, especially on the Camino, is once again marked by the strength of the route, now that the double Jacobean year has come to an end.
The pilgrims who arrived in Galicia during these nine days and obtained their credential account for 85% of all those who did so in the first three months of the year and exceed both those in the first quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2021. Specifically, they represent 132% more than those who arrived in the same period last year.
Of the 14,017 pilgrims who arrived in Compostela these days, slightly more than 52% made the French Camio, followed in preference by the Portuguese, the Portuguese along the Coast, the English, the Primitivo and the Via de la Plata, in that order.
Regarding its provenance, almost 59% were Spanish, which implies that foreigners account for 41%. The most frequent nationalities are Portuguese (6.93% of the total), Germans (4.53%) and Americans (3.5%).
As regards the autonomous regions, Madrid once again led, with 24% of Spanish pilgrims, followed by Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León and the Canary Islands.