Has the Xunta gone crazy?

[peregrina2000]

Perusing the online Vigo newspaperfor more information on the coastal route that Peter and Ivar have mentioned in a recent post on the Camino Portugues, I came across this article in today's paper:

http://www.farodevigo.es/portada/2009/0 ... 61100.html

It says that the Xunta de Galicia is undertaking promotions and advertising with the goal of a doubling of the number of peregrinos between 2009 and 2010. That would be a 40% increase from the last Holy Year -- and a total of 250,000! The article also points out that the Camino Frances is already oversaturated and that only two new albergues are planned along the way to handle the increase. I guess we should all hope that their promotional campaigns will fail -- I understand that the Xunta sees this as a potential antidote to the recession, but it seems totally unrealistic to me.

I've been forging ahead with my plan to walk the Vdlp in 2010 but wonder whether it will be crazy on all the routes. What do you guys think?

I know that in other years, I've heard from hospitaleros along the Frances that when there's a big scare about huge crowds, many people stay away, and in fact there are sometimes very low numbers. I guess there's no way to predict human behavior, though.

Laurie

 

[MichaelB10398]

I suspect that next year the Camino Frances from SJPP to Sarria will be fine, but then it will be absolute mobs from Sarria to SdC. It might require that occasionally one might use alternative boarding, but all will be well.

I will be in SJPP June 1 and begin the Camino with grateful heart that the Way's first steps will have begun. The fact that it is a Holy Year will make it all the more exhilarating to be on Camino.

Things will work out for all, I will respond to the call that I hear so clearly, I will walk the Camino.

Buen Camino to all,

Michael

 

[lynnejohn]

Exciting to be sure. I have not yet taken that big step of walking the Way in a Holy Year, but haven't dismissed the idea yet either.

There was a consideration in 2006 to use shipping containers as overflow accommodation for peak times on the Camino, including during Holy Years. I have never seen them anywhere, so it seems the Xunta wasn't thrilled with the idea.

http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/albumes/ga ... 0665204748

lynne

 

[Rebekah Scott]

The Junta is in the hype business. Just have a look back at some of their bizarre ideas and bloated budgetary waste, and you´ll get the idea. They throw these numbers around to encourage trade, advertising, and business speculation, and to keep their budgets well padded. As for next year´s projected pilgrim figures, nothing could be further from reality, as nobody can tell what the future holds. Especially people who trade in smoke and mirrors and politics.

Reb.

 

[William Marques]

The Xunta is crazy. I have just read one of their adverts in a magazine published privately by a 5* Spanish hotel company. Not their target market I suspect.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

It is easy to disagree with some of the things the various juntas/xuntas do to support and promote the Camino, but we should rest easy when it is in the capable hands of those such as our own Ivar:

announcements-your-feedback/topic6368.html#p37409

I think there are at least three Parador hotels along the route, so maybe the Five-Star promotion was aimed at building their clientele!!!

Make 2010 great for us, Ivar!

 

[ivar]

It is easy to disagree with some of the things the various juntas/xuntas do to support and promote the Camino, but we should rest easy when it is in the capable hands of those such as our own Ivar:

announcements-your-feedback/topic6368.html#p37409

I think there are at least three Parador hotels along the route, so maybe the Five-Star promotion was aimed at building their clientele!!!

Make 2010 great for us, Ivar!

Ohh no... don't put this on me?

I am working on what they/we will be doing online next year. It will be pretty good, soo much better than Xacobeo has done so far online... the first stage will kick of within a few weeks.

Regarding the 5* hotel campaign. I don't know this campaign, but I think it is related to the fact that the Xunta is trying to attract people that leave some more money. As we know, pilgrims do leave less money than a "regular" tourist.

By the way, the recent announcement on the 3 new albergues on the camino ingles is one way to try to get more pilgrims off the Frances and over to a different camino.

Saludos,
Ivar

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I apologise for my outburst above. I had just received, via overnight mail, a heavy catalog-type book from the Xunta de Galicia, part of a traveling art exhibition I helped with a couple of years ago. Which would be nice, except this book, printed on glossy laid paper and bound for Posterity, is not an archive-quality copy of the artworks in the show. (I never got one of those!)

This is a bound copy of one of the comment books at the exhibition´s Santiago venue. So I get, at public expense, all the inane "nice show!!!!" or "thank you for the nice paintings" comments, written in various scrawls in several languages, duly translated into Castellano and Gallego.

Such a shocking waste of resources. I wish I could afford to send it back!

Reb.

 

[Javier Martin]

The Xunta is crazy. I have just read one of their adverts in a magazine published privately by a 5* Spanish hotel company. Not their target market I suspect.

Xunta is not interested in Camino, but to get attraction over the money of pilgrims and tourists. If possible, from tourists, because they spend much more a day than pilgrims.

But, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims can leave lots of money, so they are interesting too.

Buen Camino, with less tourists if possible.

Javier Martin
Madrid, Spain.