The two Portuguese roads, the Interior and the Coastal, are in second place for pilgrims arriving at Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, having counted 123,800 pilgrims (out of 438 thousand) and generated "revenues of 16 million euros"
The number of foreign pilgrims has increased in 2022, with the Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport being considered the "main gateway".
According to the news advanced by Porto, the data from the cross-border cooperation project "Facendo Caminho" were presented at a seminar held at the Museu do Mar, in Vigo, by Nuno Almeida, director of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation of the Galicia-Northern Portugal Euroregion. "The important thing is to value, on the Portuguese side, the incredible support that has been achieved through the airport," he emphasizes, quoted by Lusa news agency.
It was also mentioned that in the first quarter of the year, 2,831 pilgrims traveled the two Portuguese paths, of the total of 7,029 people who reached Santiago de Compostela. On the other hand, the French Way, which leads the top ranking registering 227 thousand pilgrims in 2022, counted 1,532 pilgrims.
"In 2022, about 20 thousand Portuguese traveled the religious itinerary, being the fourth nationality, behind Spain, Italy and the United States," adds Nuno Almeida.
The Portuguese Way of Saint James - Coastal Way, officially certified just like the Inland Way, runs through the municipalities of Porto, Matosinhos, Maia, Vila do Conde, Póvoa do Varzim, Esposende, Viana do Castelo, Caminha, Vila Nova de Cerveira, and Valença.
According to the same source, the "Facendo Caminho" project was born in 2020 to "consolidate all the routes of the Portuguese Way of St. James in the Euroregion Galicia-Northern Portugal" and strengthen its "sustainable use, as a cross-border cultural and natural heritage resource, capable of generating tourism and economic activities that contribute to the socio-economic development of this territory.
The Ways of St. James are a "millennial tradition" accomplished by "millions of pilgrims since the beginning of the 9th century, when the tomb of the apostle St. James was discovered.