- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances 2007,
Via Francigena Italy, 2008,
Jakobsweg Austria 2010,
Camino Frances 2011,
Le Puy to Lourdes 2012,
Via de la Plata 2013,
Future:
Ökumenischer (Via Regia), Germany,
Lycian Way, Turkey
Time for some wild ass guess (wag) predictions for the new year!
Due to demographic, social and economics reasons, 2015 will be the year that over 250,000 pilgrims (and as many as 275,000) will arrive into Santiago and receive their Compostela. During the peak season from mid April through to mid October, more than 1,000 pilgrims daily (200,000 in total) will arrive in Santiago and stories of hours long line ups, pilgrims sleeping on the floor, bed bugs, will become common place, especially in the months of August, September and October.
While the Camino Frances will remain the most popular trail, other trails like the Norte, Portuguese and Via de la Plata will continue to grow in popularity.
There will be a surge in non-Europeans doing the camino as both a falling euro and lower energy costs make it more affordable for people to travel to and through Spain. It is very possible that the euro could reach parity with the US dollar by the end of the year, if not sooner, motivating more Americans to come to the Spain to walk the camino.
Finally in 2015, there will be some international news event whereby a famous celebrity, politician, etc walks the camino. It is very possible that a film crew from China or South Korea, will come to Spain, to produce a Hollywood style movie on the camino.
However all this said, 2015 will be a watershed year, whereby from 2016 and for the rest of this decade, the annual numbers will never exceed those of 2015. From 2016 and beyond, the number of pilgrims arriving in Santiago will fall, and never exceed those of 2015. It won't be until the next holy year in 2021 that the numbers will rise again, but these too won't exceed those of 2015.
Due to demographic, social and economics reasons, 2015 will be the year that over 250,000 pilgrims (and as many as 275,000) will arrive into Santiago and receive their Compostela. During the peak season from mid April through to mid October, more than 1,000 pilgrims daily (200,000 in total) will arrive in Santiago and stories of hours long line ups, pilgrims sleeping on the floor, bed bugs, will become common place, especially in the months of August, September and October.
While the Camino Frances will remain the most popular trail, other trails like the Norte, Portuguese and Via de la Plata will continue to grow in popularity.
There will be a surge in non-Europeans doing the camino as both a falling euro and lower energy costs make it more affordable for people to travel to and through Spain. It is very possible that the euro could reach parity with the US dollar by the end of the year, if not sooner, motivating more Americans to come to the Spain to walk the camino.
Finally in 2015, there will be some international news event whereby a famous celebrity, politician, etc walks the camino. It is very possible that a film crew from China or South Korea, will come to Spain, to produce a Hollywood style movie on the camino.
However all this said, 2015 will be a watershed year, whereby from 2016 and for the rest of this decade, the annual numbers will never exceed those of 2015. From 2016 and beyond, the number of pilgrims arriving in Santiago will fall, and never exceed those of 2015. It won't be until the next holy year in 2021 that the numbers will rise again, but these too won't exceed those of 2015.