Galicia and Northern Portugal Join Forces to Create a Cross-Border Tourism Cluster

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Galicia and Northern Portugal Join Forces to Create a Cross-Border Tourism Cluster

Galicia and Northern Portugal are working on the creation of a new joint tourism cluster that seeks to join forces to promote the Euroregion as a unique, attractive, and sustainable destination. Called ClusterTur, the initiative is being tendered for €230,000 by the Galician Regional Government (Xunta de Galicia), with the goal of launching this structure before the end of 2025.

 

The project, part of the European cooperation program POCTEP (Interreg Spain-Portugal), was created with the aim of becoming a tool for real cooperation between tourism stakeholders in both regions: companies, administrations, and sectoral entities. Through the cluster, the aim is to design a shared promotion strategy, joint tourism product development, and international positioning, especially in markets such as France, Italy, the United States, and Canada.

 

Among the lines of action are the creation of integrated tourist experiences—combining the heritage, gastronomy, and nature of both territories—and the reinforcement of key routes such as the Portuguese Way, which connects thousands of pilgrims each year with Santiago de Compostela. So far in 2025, more than 10,000 Portuguese pilgrims have already collected the Compostela, consolidating this route as one of the main cultural and touristic links between the two countries.

 

The design and promotion of ClusterTur is supported by Turismo de Galicia, the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation Galicia-Northern Portugal (GNP-AECT), the Porto Tourism Association, and Turismo do Porto e Norte de Portugal.

 

In addition to fostering cross-border collaboration, the project also seeks to contribute to the sustainability of tourism in the Euroregion by promoting a model that distributes the flow of visitors more evenly and boosts the local economy on both sides of the Minho. With this initiative, Galicia and northern Portugal strengthen their historical and cultural ties, consolidating a new shared destination model that transforms the border into an opportunity for joint growth.