Twenty years ago, there were 3,501 pilgrims, a 20% increase from 2,905 in 1987. If a six month season is averaged, that is 20 pilgrims a day. At that level of activity, no one would build a new albergue; no one would maintain the path; no one would open his bar early to serve coffee.
A Camino would have been fairly lonely! It would have been a far cry from the tens or hundreds-of-thousands in the Middle Ages, when walking both directions doubled traffic.
I enjoy meeting people on the pilgrimage, but I think I like meeting twenty people more than meeting one hundred. However, that does not make me nostalgic for the "good old days" that I never knew. I think the growth of tourism on the Camino is good for pilgrims and the economy alike. If I want to meet only twenty pilgrims, I can watch two hundred walk by! I can meet none by wearing an iPod, staying in an hostal single room, or dining at 10 p.m.
"The good old days" had polio, serfs, unsanitary medical treatment, vigilante justice, and robber barons. I am going to be careful before wishing for a return to the days of yore.