Clúster

A dozen countries represented, with Brazil as guest country, 15 restaurants and more than 200 gastronomic experiences. These are just some of the figures of the twentieth anniversary of the International Gastronomic Tourism Show, Xantar, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary by presenting the most international programme of activities in which, in addition to the traditional and close cross-border cooperation with Portugal, Ibero-American cooperation is joined stronger than ever.

Thus, between 6 and 10 February, the Expourense exhibition centre in the capital of Burgas becomes the centre of gastronomic tourism, bringing together 283 exhibitors from Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Italy, Peru, Colombia, Cuba, Argentina and Nicaragua. The extensive programme includes an average of 4 activities per hour of the show, in which the public and professionals will be able to find out about the culinary proposals of chefs from 9 countries, who will give a total of 77 showcookings, among which the ones organised by the Consellería do Medio Rural and the Consellería de Mar stand out, with the aim of giving value to Galicia’s quality products protected with Denomination of Origin, Protected Geographical Indication or with guarantee stamps such as “PescadeRías, de onde se non?”or ANFACO-CECOPESCA fish and seafood preserves.

The program of showcookings is completed with parallel activities such as the VI Meeting of Gastronomic and Tourist Bloggers in which more than 20 bloggers from Galicia, Asturias and Portugal or the XV International Meeting of Brotherhoods that will gather 40 entities from 4 countries.

Three gastronomic classrooms
Xantar also has three gastronomic classrooms, one for wine tasting and a Wine Tunnel. The latter has the support of the five regulatory councils of Galician wine and liquor and spirits (in addition to the Consellería de Medio Rural) that will present 140 community references paying special attention to the winning wines in the official tastings of Galicia.

Proximity tourism
In addition, with the aim of facilitating the influx of visitors from other parts of the geography, Xantar has re-launched the package “Siente Galicia” which allows you to give away an enogastronomic experience in the province as well as the “Train Package”, which offers a gastronomic experience aimed at visitors who can approach Ourense on the high-speed line, AVANT, from A Coruña or Santiago. This package is available for Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 February and includes the return train journey, transfers, guided tours of the thermal areas and historic centre of Ourense and lunch in the lounge.