Pilgrim numbers: History has been made, more than 10,000 American pilgrims have arrived so far

[JohnnieWalker]

Hola

I have now posted the statistics on arriving pilgrims for the period 1 January - 30 November 2013.

History has been made: for the first time more than 10,000 American pilgrims have registered at the Pilgrims' Office in Santiago this year.

The overall increase in the year to date compared to last year is 12%.

See the full analysis for the year here:

http://johnniewalker-santiago.blogspot.com

 

[stevenjarvis]

The overall increase in the year to date compared to last year is 12%.
See the full analysis for the year here:
http://johnniewalker-santiago.blogspot.com

Big thanks to you and your colleagues in the Pilgrims Office for all the hard work that goes in to this information.

I was just reflecting on the information and wondered how many pilgrims are repeat visitors, either within the year, or on an annual basis ? The information isn't collected , and I'm not suggesting it is , but my guess is that it would be a small percentage, especially compared to members here, a high percentage of whom are repeat offenders !

 

[JohnMcM]

Hola

History has been made: for the first time more than 10,000 American pilgrims have registered at the Pilgrims' Office in Santiago this year.

http://johnniewalker-santiago.blogspot.com

Wow! That's a whole heap of potential friends.

 

[Saint Mike II]

Martin Sheen has a lot to answer for!!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Martin Sheen has a lot to answer for!!

With about 6,000 pilgrims spending 1,000E each, he gets to answer for 6 million Euro of economic activity!

 

[supersullivan]

Amazing what us Irish will put ourselves through for a couple of weeks in the sun away from an wet, damp Irish summer.

 

[Saint Mike II]

With about 6,000 pilgrims spending 1,000E each, he gets to answer for 6 million Euro of economic activity!

Yes Amigo - if you get to see the DVD of The Way - during the discussion session that follows the movie it is clear that Sheen and his son have a great deal of affection for the land of their father and grandfather and whilst it may not have been their intention I am reasonably sure that they will be glad if the movie has done something to improve the Spanish economy. IMHO The Way has done Spain a significant amount of economic good and will (I believe) continue to do so over the next 5 years. In one of the promotional videos for a screening of Six Ways to Santiago, Sheen is also seen (and applauded) (may have in San Francisco) where he spoke about his adventures during the filming of The Way
Buen Camino

 

[jirit]

Would be interesting to understand what the impact of the "boomer" segment of the population of camino pilgrims is and what the impact will be on the statistics especially for those coming from English speaking countries.

Boomers are those born between 1946 and 1964, thus today, they are now in their prime pilgrim years in terms of having the ability, financial resources and time to undertake doing the camino. As of next year, the oldest boomer will be 68 and the youngest 50, and I suspect we will see a bubble in the number of pilgrims in this age group.

Since boomers are generally a phenomena of western English countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, UK, etc, then it should not be surprising to see a surge in numbers from this particular demographic.

 

[dougfitz]

Would be interesting to understand what the impact of the "boomer" segment of the population of camino pilgrims is and what the impact will be on the statistics especially for those coming from English speaking countries.

Boomers are those born between 1946 and 1964, thus today, they are now in their prime pilgrim years in terms of having the ability, financial resources and time to undertake doing the camino. As of next year, the oldest boomer will be 68 and the youngest 50, and I suspect we will see a bubble in the number of pilgrims in this age group.

Since boomers are generally a phenomena of western English countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, UK, etc, then it should not be surprising to see a surge in numbers from this particular demographic.

I think this is an interesting question, but I am not sure about the analysis. As it stands, nearly 60% of pilgrims are between 30 and 60, and only 15% over 60. The 30 year period in the first number would bias it upwards compared to the number of over 60s. What is not clear whether that bias would account for a fourfold difference. I would suspect not. Which leads me to the conclusion that the prime pilgrim years for US and Canadian baby boomers has passed. We may already have seen the major increases that this demographic will cause.

As a demographic phenomenum, the post-war baby boom was more widespread across Europe, sometimes started later and extended longer than it did in the US and Canada. So there may still be some increase to come from baby boomers born in countries where the boom continued into the late 60s and 1970s.

Regards,

 

[Gyrovagus]

The numbers from the UK are always feeble, so I'm not entirely sure about the notion of increasing numbers from "English speaking countries" being valid.

You'd need to include insularity, religious politics and Reformation history to account for the low numbers of UK pilgrims.

As for the other Anglophone countries, you might consider the popular films and books - including the awful Coelho and Maclaine.

I

 

[Saint Mike II]

As a "boomer" I tend to support the contention that we now have: no mortgage; no kids to support; can spare time from grandchildren; have been emboldened by recent books (Maclaine amongst others), movies The Way; want to see the world at "our" pace. So maybe is an explanation - but I am not in a mood to do the statistical research necessary for my Camino Masters thesis!!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

The United Kingdom had about three times the number of pilgrims as the USA on a per capita basis in 2012. New Zealand, Canada, and Australia had about five times the number from the USA. Ireland dominated the English speaking countries. It had about the same number of pilgrims as the UK, but its population is just 7% of the size of the UK.