Feria

The gastronomic fair surpassed the occupation of exhibition space in other editions and was more successful in terms of the number of people who participated in its more than 150 activities

With more than 25 thousand visitors, seven thousand of them professionals, 289 exhibitors from 9 countries and more than 150 activities, the 21st edition of Xantar closed by exceeding the figures of previous editions. During the five days of the fair, the fair kept “not one meter free and not one minute free”, as defined by the executive vice-president of Expourense, Jorge Pumar, during the closing ceremony that closed with data that surpassed the previous editions.

The Xantar 2020 activities program included live cooking exhibitions in which renowned chefs from Spain, Portugal, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and Chile participated and in which they highlighted the value of local and quality products. Another activity that aroused the interest of professionals was the more than 30 commented tastings of products such as wine, liquors, cheese, honey or Panamanian rum. We must also add the more than 50 tastings offered by the exhibitors such as those of cheese and wine thread of Amandi de Sober, the Botelo of O Barco de Valdeorras, to name a few of those organized for this closing day.

Xantar 2020 has once again enjoyed the loyalty of professionals from the sector and also of the general public from Galicia, Portugal and neighbouring provinces, which fulfils the show’s objective of promoting local tourism through gastronomy by means of cross-border cooperation and also Latin America. Today’s closing ceremony, a day dedicated to the rural environment, was presided over by the Regional Minister of this area, José González, who highlighted the role played by Xantar in “revitalising the Galician economy and in the international promotion of two vital sectors for Galicia: the agri-food industry and the hotel and tourism industry.

This last day was also dedicated to the town councils of Castro Caldelas and Sober, both in the Ribeira Sacra, the main protagonist of this edition. The president of the Ribeira Sacra Tourism Consortium and mayor of Sober, Luis Guitián, thanked Xantar for the only candidacy that Spain will present in 2021 to the UNESCO World Heritage. The day dedicated to O Barco de Valdeorras was also celebrated, whose mayor, Alfredo García, stressed that “tourism has to become an important resource for our territories. We have to learn to live, too, from tourism”.

During this closing ceremony were also delivered, as usual for 8 years, the prizes of the Competition Xantar Gourmet Cuevas Group in the categories of professional, semi-professional and amateur. They had to make recipes that included several Galician gourmet products such as chestnuts.