SJPDP annual pilgrim numbers since 1996

[Bradypus]

@Monasp has published the total numbers of pilgrims recorded annually by the SJPDP pilgrim office since its opening in 1996.



Look at this post on Facebook

https://m.facebook.com/groups/818222641542543/permalink/7416105958420812/?ref=share

 

[DoughnutANZ]

I don't use Facebook and so I can't see if this person has provided a more useful breakdown than this.

Given that this graph shows that the number of pilgrims starting from St. Jean and claiming a Compostela or Distance Certificate this year was well below the peak of 2019.

AND

During April this year people were saying that they had never seen such high numbers before and suggesting that the Camino Frances was overcrowded and "full".

There seems to be two possibly contradictory statements.

It would be nice to know:

If April this year was busier than April 2019 but then the rest of this year was a lot less busy than 2019

OR

If people were just overstating how busy things were this year because they were perhaps a bit lazy and just compared this year's figures with last year's figures and didn't take the longer term figures into account.

 

[Anik2001]

Here are the monthly numbers from the SJPP pilgrims office. They were just posted yesterday.

 

[J Willhaus]

Yes, looking at the numbers 2019 August and September were a little busier than this year. April, May, and September were also very busy this year. Interesting because I know the numbers on the Portuguese were also up quite a lot, but I am not sure anyone is keeping tabs over there.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Given that this graph shows that the number of pilgrims starting from St. Jean and claiming a Compostela or Distance Certificate this year was well below the peak of 2019.

AND

During April this year people were saying that they had never seen such high numbers before and suggesting that the Camino Frances was overcrowded and "full".

There seems to be two possibly contradictory statements.

No -- April/May and September/mid-October are the busiest periods as far as "the whole Camino" (ahem !!) is concerned in that there are the highest numbers of people walking ALL of the Way between SJPP or further and Santiago -- which means that those are the months when there will be the greatest numbers of pilgrims on the Meseta and on other "boring" sections that some people choose to skip.

But very high numbers during those four months don't necessarily add up to extremely high numbers over a 12-month period ; also numbers passing through SJPP are very frequently higher than those passing through Carrión de los Condes or wherever. Many walk to Pamplona or Logroño or somewhere, then bus it to León or Astorga or Sarria or something.

That's why the numbers don't add up.

 

[Bradypus]

Many walk to Pamplona or Logroño or somewhere, then bus it to León or Astorga or Sarria or something.

That's why the numbers don't add up.

I seem to be reading more posts here and elsewhere these days from people who plan to walk a section of a Camino route but with no particular intention of ending their journey in Santiago. People who ask what the most attractive parts of a Camino route might be for a given number of days.

 

[Anniefish]

And that doesn’t count the enormous amount of people who don’t claim a Compostela

 

[Bradypus]

And that doesn’t count the enormous amount of people who don’t claim a Compostela

Very difficult to know how many that would be. Me certainly in recent years. I didn't register in SJPDP when I last passed through there in September or in Santiago on my last arrival so I am one of those invisible pilgrims. Given the many possible routes and starting points it is simply not possible to know how many people start a Camino in a given year and make the comparison with the far more definite number of Compostelas handed out. My impression is that the percentage who do not ask for a Compostela at the end of their journey may be growing but I cannot point to any solid evidence for that.

 

[MassNative]

I don't use Facebook and so I can't see if this person has provided a more useful breakdown than this.

Given that this graph shows that the number of pilgrims starting from St. Jean and claiming a Compostela or Distance Certificate this year was well below the peak of 2019.

AND

During April this year people were saying that they had never seen such high numbers before and suggesting that the Camino Frances was overcrowded and "full".

There seems to be two possibly contradictory statements.

It would be nice to know:

If April this year was busier than April 2019 but then the rest of this year was a lot less busy than 2019

OR

If people were just overstating how busy things were this year because they were perhaps a bit lazy and just compared this year's figures with last year's figures and didn't take the longer term figures into account.

I wonder how many Albergues & Hostels were open in 2019 vs 2023. The impression I got when I walked in Sept-Nov 2022 was many private accomodations were permanently closed after the pandemic. That would contribute to "more crowded" with slightly lower pilgrim numbers.

Jim

 

[ivar]

I hope it is ok with her that I post the pdf document that she posted on Facebook also here.

 

[David Tallan]

Given that this graph shows that the number of pilgrims starting from St. Jean and claiming a Compostela or Distance Certificate

Is there a reason that you take that as given? So far as I'm able to ascertain these are the numbers of people who have passed through the Pilgrim Office in St. Jean and there is no check as to whether these have claimed a Compostela or Distance Certificate. I'm not sure how such a check would be done. I don't believe that the Pilgrim Office in Santiago shares information except in aggregate numbers.

This won't count the number of pilgrims who start in St. Jean without visiting the Pilgrim Office there, just as the Santiago numbers don't include the number of pilgrims who don't show up there to request a certificate. While it will include pilgrims who do not make it to Santiago this year (either because they choose to end their pilgrimages earlier or because they are doing the Camino in stages over a number of years and this year's won't make it to Santiago), it won't include people who make it to Santiago starting closer than St. Jean or on another route. Since we know many, many pilgrims start closer to Santiago on the Frances (like in Sarria) or on other routes (like the Portugues), that could easily account for the fact that this is a record year according to the Pilgrim Office in Santiago while not being a record year in St. Jean.

In terms of this being a "record year" from St. Jean in April but not overall, perhaps the pilgrims in previous years were more spread out and this year were more concentrated in particular weeks.

 

[Anniefish]

Very difficult to know how many that would be. Me certainly in recent years. I didn't register in SJPDP when I last passed through there in September or in Santiago on my last arrival so I am one of those invisible pilgrims. Given the many possible routes and starting points it is simply not possible to know how many people start a Camino in a given year and make the comparison with the far more definite number of Compostelas handed out. My impression is that the percentage who do not ask for a Compostela at the end of their journey may be growing but I cannot point to any solid evidence for that.

I’ve walked three, with four different people and none of us have claimed a Compostela , as you say it’s impossible to estimate how many there are.

 

[Damien Reynolds]

Since we know many, many pilgrims start closer to Santiago on the Frances (like in Sarria) or on other routes (like the Portugues), that could easily account for the fact that this is a record year according to the Pilgrim Office in Santiago while not being a record year in St. Jean.

Good points! I know the Pilgrim's office in Santiago collects information about the route taken and start location... Do they publish the numbers based on route/start? Maybe the proportion of walkers on the Frances has declined, as the infrastructure and knowledge of alternative routes has grown?

 

[Bradypus]

Do they publish the numbers based on route/start? Maybe the proportion of walkers on the Frances has declined, as the infrastructure and knowledge of alternative routes has grown?

The Santiago pilgrim office publish numbers broken down by route followed and also by starting point. Certainly the percentage of pilgrims choosing the Frances has declined as other routes have gained in popularity. Especially the variants of the Portugues. But because numbers walking overall on all routes have risen greatly in the last 10 years or so the numbers being recorded in SJPDP have not fallen dramatically in absolute terms.

Estadísticas | Oficina del Peregrino. Santiago de Compostela

oficinadelperegrino.com

 

[Damien Reynolds]

The Santiago pilgrim office publish numbers broken down by route followed and also by starting point. Certainly the percentage of pilgrims choosing the Frances has declined as other routes have gained in popularity. Especially the variants of the Portugues. But because numbers walking overall on all routes have risen greatly in the last 10 years or so the numbers being recorded in SJPDP have not fallen dramatically in absolute terms.

Estadísticas | Oficina del Peregrino. Santiago de Compostela

oficinadelperegrino.com

I've never looked at this before! Fascinating! It would be awesome if they included multiple variables... for example: starting point by route taken and nationality. That level of detail might not be important tho for most. But, as a marketer, I'd love to know that too! (ex. build/own a Swiss themed albergue/hotel where?) (I'm not Swiss, I just remember an albergue that was branded that way!)

Is the raw (non personally identifiable) data available?

 

[stevelm1]

I don't use Facebook and so I can't see if this person has provided a more useful breakdown than this.

Given that this graph shows that the number of pilgrims starting from St. Jean and claiming a Compostela or Distance Certificate this year was well below the peak of 2019.

AND

During April this year people were saying that they had never seen such high numbers before and suggesting that the Camino Frances was overcrowded and "full".

There seems to be two possibly contradictory statements.

It would be nice to know:

If April this year was busier than April 2019 but then the rest of this year was a lot less busy than 2019

OR

If people were just overstating how busy things were this year because they were perhaps a bit lazy and just compared this year's figures with last year's figures and didn't take the longer term figures into account.

Perhaps some of the confusion of the numbers is the chart provided here is only the folks that walked from SJPDP. Most folks start closer to Santiago and those numbers are not included here.

 

[JDecay]

Here are the monthly numbers from the SJPP pilgrims office. They were just posted yesterday.

View attachment 161424

57,000 for 2023 seem very low considering all the publicity about return of big numbers. Is this really only those who identify as Pilgrims rather than walkers/travellers etc.

 

[David Tallan]

57,000 for 2023 seem very low considering all the publicity about return of big numbers. Is this really only those who identify as Pilgrims rather than walkers/travellers etc.

It is those who passed through the Pilgrims Office in St. Jean Pied de Port.

 

[DoughnutANZ]

Is there a reason that you take that as given? So far as I'm able to ascertain these are the numbers of people who have passed through the Pilgrim Office in St. Jean and there is no check as to whether these have claimed a Compostela or Distance Certificate. I'm not sure how such a check would be done. I don't believe that the Pilgrim Office in Santiago shares information except in aggregate numbers.

This won't count the number of pilgrims who start in St. Jean without visiting the Pilgrim Office there, just as the Santiago numbers don't include the number of pilgrims who don't show up there to request a certificate. While it will include pilgrims who do not make it to Santiago this year (either because they choose to end their pilgrimages earlier or because they are doing the Camino in stages over a number of years and this year's won't make it to Santiago), it won't include people who make it to Santiago starting closer than St. Jean or on another route. Since we know many, many pilgrims start closer to Santiago on the Frances (like in Sarria) or on other routes (like the Portugues), that could easily account for the fact that this is a record year according to the Pilgrim Office in Santiago while not being a record year in St. Jean.

In terms of this being a "record year" from St. Jean in April but not overall, perhaps the pilgrims in previous years were more spread out and this year were more concentrated in particular weeks.

My mistake, 2am syndrome on my part. I didn't read the original post correctly. I misread it as figures from the Pilgrim Office in Santiago de Compostela.

 

[DoughnutANZ]

I've never looked at this before! Fascinating! It would be awesome if they included multiple variables... for example: starting point by route taken and nationality. That level of detail might not be important tho for most. But, as a marketer, I'd love to know that too! (ex. build/own a Swiss themed albergue/hotel where?) (I'm not Swiss, I just remember an albergue that was branded that way!)

Is the raw (non personally identifiable) data available?

@diegoromerosm Provides very useful website(s) that give much more detail about various parameters. His data is scraped from the Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Office website. The Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Office website used to provide access to their raw data (non personally identifiable) but for reasons unknown they have stopped doing this.

@diegoromerosm s websites can be found at
https://solviturambulando.es/en/el-camino-de-santiago/camino-de-santiago-stats/
And

Daily pilgrim arrivals since 2020 | Solvitur Ambulando

Here you have the data of the daily pilgrim arrivals to Santiago de Compostela offered by the Pilgrim's Office.

solviturambulando.es

 

[JabbaPapa]

And that doesn’t count the enormous amount of people who don’t claim a Compostela

Very difficult to know how many that would be.

From surveys done in 2021 IIRC and published last year, it seems about 15% of those who reach Santiago do not claim a Compostela -- though the % of pilgrims not claiming theirs is a lot smaller in October to April than during high pilgrim season.

So it varies between about 5% in the mid-winter and 20%+ during Summer.

Multiplying the official numbers by 1.15 should give a realistic estimate of the number of pilgrims who reach Santiago in any given year -- but that estimate would still not include those on the Camino having no intention at all of reaching Santiago, nor take full account of those doing their Caminos in stages but not yet on their final stage.

 

[Anhalter]

I just had a look at Gronze. The albergue in Roncesvalles is stated to have 183 beds. The various hotels there offer 65 rooms/appartments, i calculated with 2 persons, so theoretical 130 beds.

That gives 9703 total beds/nights in a month with 31 days and 9390 in one with 30 days. Assuming perfect distribution.
I guess there will be a handfull of people crossing the mountain that won't sleep in Roncesvalles. I also guess there might be people getting their passport in St.Jean and then taking other means of travel further down the camino.
However, since distribution will be far from perfect in reality, i guess we can see how we get these reports of overcrowding in April/May (but for some reason we don't see these posts as often in September).

(And this doesn't take into account the number of people starting in Roncesvalles.)

 

[joeboybollo]

And that doesn’t count the enormous amount of people who don’t claim a Compostela

Yes,I've done four but only claimed for first one.

 

[David Tallan]

Yes,I've done four but only claimed for first one.

And I've done four, but only failed to claim for the first one (although the last one was vicarie pro for someone whose health did not permit her to walk and I gave the Compostela to her - I kept the other 5 certificates from that walk, though).

 

[ForrestUS]

I must admit I am somewhat surprised. I would have thought the annual number would have been a couple hundred thousand. It's amazing to me that all these hostels are able to support themselves on these numbers

 

[Bill905]

And then there are pilgrims, like me, who pass through the Pilgrim Office in SJPP, but it is the end of my Via Podiensis Camino. While on the VP I also met several French pilgrims who planned to finish their VP in Ronceveaux, which apparently is one of the traditional ends of the VP. That's a heck of a way to end a Camino!

 

[JabbaPapa]

I must admit I am somewhat surprised. I would have thought the annual number would have been a couple hundred thousand.

Numbers have always been a lot lower at that end of the Camino than in the Sarria to Santiago section, and that was true even before the fashion for "doing" Sarria to Santiago came into being.

Furthermore, there are three major routes from France to the Francès, though one of them is not well trodden -- there's also the Somport to Puente La Reina, and Bayonne to Burgos via Vitoria. (there's the French Catalan Way from Perpignan too, but that's about 10 pilgrims/year !! -- even though it's a major route historically)

Anyway, numbers gradually increase along the Way as other routes conjoin with the Francès to swell the number of pilgrims the further you get towards Santiago.