Galicia hosted the International Congress on Rural Development and Tourism in which FAO participates

Galicia hosted the International Congress on Rural Development and Tourism in which FAO participates

The City of Culture hosted for three days the International Congress on Rural Development and Turiso in which representatives of more than 20 countries took part under the auspices of the Galician Agency for Rural Development, which is part of the steering committee of the Farland network of FAO. The congress is conceived as a meeting focused on the exchange of experiences and the promotion of collaboration among participants. Thus, Santiago will be the twelfth edition of the conference, where the main module focuses on land management, challenges and opportunities for the future. All the instruments used in the participating countries to support land mobilization and fight against abandonment will be dealt with here, dealing with various topics related to land management policies and tools, such as land banks, but also on tourism as the axis of economic development for rural areas.

In this sense the participation of the director of Tourism of Galicia, Nava Castro, that nava castro emphasizes the opportunities that the tourism offers to the rural Galician for its socioeconomic impulse. “Tourism activity in rural areas is capable of linking an entire value chain that allows these benefits to be more visible among the local population,” said the director of Tourism, citing as an example the positive impact it is having, for example, the Pilgrim’s Way to Santiago as a driving force to create businesses and also to fix the population.

Importance of rural tourism
Nava Castro also highlighted the Xunta’s commitment to promoting rural development in a transversal way. He recalled the work of the regional administration for its recovery, strengthening its role as a source of entrepreneurship but also highlighted the potential of nautical tourism, thermalism, gastronomy or natural resources as key elements to energize the rural hand of a tourist activity that puts them in value and which involves the local population.

In addition to this table, the congress was developed in four modules: an international conference of the Farland network of FAO, which involves 20 countries around the world, dedicated to mobility and land market, another on tourism, in which Xacobeo 2021 will play a prominent role, a third around trade and quality products and the fourth aimed at empowering rural women