Pilgrims’ progress along world-famous Camino de Santiago upsets residents
It is one of the most famous pilgrimages in the world, but long-suffering residents along the route of the Camino de Santiago have ungodly words to describe its effect on the place they live.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists follow the trail from France or Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, where the remains of the apostle St James are said to be buried in the city’s cathedral.
In 2023, more than 442,000 people made the pilgrimage, following the yellow shell signs that are the symbol of St James. However, when walkers from Britain and other countries arrive in Santiago de Compostela, residents say the small city is often overrun with visitors.
Adrian McManus, a Briton who has lived in the Galicia region for the past 33 years and runs a wine tourism company, told i: “What has happened recently is a rise in vandalism and things like camping out in the street.
“Some were climbing on the cathedral and getting in the fountains. There is growing resentment among the locals. It is out of control.”
Mr McManus, 63, originally from Peterborough, said there was an uneasy relationship between those who depend on tourism and residents.
“The city is saturated and simply lacks the infrastructure to handle the current number of visitors,” he said. “Theme Park Santiago is certainly like this through spring, summer and early autumn, so much so that it can be a hassle just walking around the place.”
Residents’ groups have called for better management of tourists. “In a small place like Santiago, where there are only 100,000 people and 3,000 live in the historic centre, the number of pilgrims is too much for the city,” said Roberto Almuiña, the president of the city’s residents’ association.
“It simply needs to be managed better to control the flow of tourists.
We don’t have the same problems of drinking or bad behaviour that they have in Mediterranean resorts. Most people are well-behaved.”
Emily Smith, a British-American artist from Dartmoor in Devon, completed the 250km (155-mile) Camino walk from Porto to Santiago de Compostela last May.
“When we arrived in Santiago it was very special and there was a beautiful energy. It was over-populated but super special,” said Ms Smith, 45, who intends to return this summer. “But there were tattoo artists and people setting up stalls by the side of the route.”
i contacted the Santiago de Compostela tourism board for comment but has not received a response.
In 2021, a project was started to rid the pilgrimage route across Spain of rubbish that was increasingly marring the experience.
Discarded cigarette ends, food wrappers and used Covid-19 masks along the trail form part of a modern-day problem that conservationists have labelled “littered nature”.
SEO/Birdlife and Ecoembes, two Spanish conservation organisations, encouraged pilgrims along two parts of the route to join them to pick up rubbish from beside the trail.