The endpoint of a non secular pilgrimage is the most recent overtourism hotspot

[ad_1] SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain (AP) — Whereas some Barcelona residents sought to repel a tsunami of vacationers with plastic water pistols , a neighborhood affiliation in Santiago de Compostela opted for a friendlier method: a information to good manners for guests to their city, the endpoint of the Catholic world’s most well-known pilgrimage.

Translated into a number of languages, the group posted it all through the northwestern Spanish metropolis and distributed it at its ever-growing variety of hostels. It reminded vacationers to maintain noise down, respect visitors guidelines and use plastic protectors on mountaineering poles to keep away from damaging the slim cobblestone streets, amongst different issues.

To little avail, it will appear. Massive teams nonetheless take over the streets singing hymns, bikes experience within the unsuitable route and metallic pole ideas clatter towards the bottom. Santiago’s social media is awash with photographs denouncing an absence of decorum.

Pilgrims and vacationers stroll in Santiago de Compostela downtown, northwestern Spain, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Picture/Lalo Villar)

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Vacationers’ higher offense, although, stems from their sheer numbers ; the previous city and squares surrounding the cathedral holding the reputed tomb of Saint James the Apostle — and that was the middle of city life for a millennium — at the moment are virtually solely the area of outsiders, whose inflow has served to expel residents. This dynamic has left Santiago rising as the most recent international vacation spot the place longtime residents have grown embittered by the overtourism reworking their group.

“We would not have tourism-phobia. We've at all times lived in concord with tourism, however when it will get out of hand, when the strain goes past what is affordable, that's when rejection arises,” stated Roberto Almuíña, president of the neighborhood affiliation within the previous city that’s a UNESCO World Heritage website.

Surroundings for guests The “Camino de Santiago,” identified in English because the Manner of St. James, dates again to the ninth century, with pilgrims following its converging trails for as much as tons of of kilometers on paths originating in Portugal and France. The fashionable reputation it gained with the 2010 movie “The Manner” starring Martin Sheen was turbocharged extra lately by social media and experience-driven journey after the coronavirus pandemic .

Final yr, a document half-million folks signed as much as trek one of many permitted routes to the cathedral — equal to 5 instances town’s resident inhabitants, and marking a 725-fold improve over the past 4 a long time. Added to these lots are extraordinary vacationers not arriving by path.

The proliferation of short-term leases drove annual lease costs up 44% from 2018 to 2023, in accordance with a research commissioned by town council to the Fundación Universidade da Coruña. That led municipal authorities in Could to request the regional authorities classify the world as a high-pressure zone, like Barcelona or San Sebastian, which might assist to restrict lease will increase.

Pilgrims stroll in Santiago de Compostela downtown, northwestern Spain, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Picture/Lalo Villar)

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Already, final November, Santiago’s metropolis council enacted a ban on Airbnb-style vacationer lodging within the historic middle, arguing on the time in a press release that it was “a necessity arising from its vital development, which has clear results on the variety of housing models obtainable for residents and on their worth.”

Sihara Pérez, a researcher on the College of Santiago, described discovering anyplace to lease within the metropolis as “mission not possible,” whereas Antonio Jeremías, 27, informed The Related Press that he’s contemplating transferring again in together with his mom, as a result of his wage working full-time at a warehouse isn’t sufficient to make ends meet.

Andrea Dopazo, 32, tried to maneuver out of her dad and mom’ home in a neighborhood situated absolutely 5 kilometers (3 miles) from town middle. However her need to proceed residing within the place the place she grew up and group ties are sturdy proved futile, and he or she needed to take one thing in a city exterior Santiago.

“The one individuals who have been in a position to keep within the neighborhoods are those that have been fortunate — or unfortunate — sufficient to inherit an residence from their grandparents, uncles or dad and mom,” stated Dopazo, who works in human assets.

Throughout Spain, there have been major street protests towards unaffordable housing, with many linking the housing crunch to vacationers gobbling up short-term leases.

Breaking the principles Within the previous city, vacationers can keep in small resorts in former properties or enormous hostels transformed from former seminaries, which aren’t topic to the ban. However within the hustle to money in, some short-term leases are apparently flouting the restriction, evidenced by tenants amassing keys from lockboxes hung exterior buildings.

“Some observe the principles and others don’t, however that is the mannequin that's actually limiting residential housing,” stated Montse Vilar, from one other neighborhood group, Xuntanza.

Santiago’s Metropolis Corridor informed The Related Press in a press release that it's “doing every part in its energy to implement the laws” and that it takes motion each time it detects a case of an unlawful residence housing vacationers.

Pilgrims and vacationers relaxation in entrance of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, northwestern Spain, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Picture/Lalo Villar)

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Pilgrims and vacationers relaxation in entrance of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, northwestern Spain, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Picture/Lalo Villar)

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Between 2000 and 2020, the historic middle misplaced about half its everlasting inhabitants, now diminished to simply 3,000 residents who “resist just like the Gauls” behind buildings’ thick stone facades, Almuíña stated. There aren't any {hardware} shops or newsstands left, and only one bakery. A pair grocery shops coexist with cafes, ice cream parlors and memento outlets.

“Town has emptied out. You solely need to take a stroll to see that each one we’ve acquired are closed, deserted buildings which might be falling aside,” Almuíña added.

Spirituality This yr, the variety of pilgrims reaching Santiago is on observe to set one other document. The surge is additional souring Santiago’s residents on their metropolis’s tourism-centric financial mannequin; already half of them rejected it as of 2023, up from simply over one-quarter a decade earlier, in accordance with a research performed by Rede Galabra, a analysis group targeted on cultural research on the College of Santiago.

Even among the pilgrims are noting a shift, like Spaniards Álvaro Castaño and Ale Osteso who met on the route 4 years in the past and have returned yearly since.

“The Camino is turning into increasingly more identified, many extra individuals are coming,” Osteso stated one latest morning on the finish of their trek, amongst tour teams of pilgrims in vivid, color-coordinated outfits and households snapping footage. “Spirituality appears to have been a bit of misplaced at instances.”

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