Xacobeo2021

The president of the Xunta advanced the general lines of the plan that is presented this Friday in the City of Culture of Galicia

As part of the meeting of the Xacobeo 2021 organising committee, at which it was announced that the Xacobeo Strategic Plan will be endowed with a minimum of 247.7 million euros, which will be added to the 33 million already invested, the head of the Xunta, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the celebration of the next Holy Year and invited Galicians to take part in the organisation of a “Xacobeo of 5.000 days” to show the best Galicia of our history.

After 11 years without a holy year, the next 11 years will see the celebration of three, a circumstance that Núñez Feijóo considers must be converted into an opportunity to develop a green Xacobeo, committed to its authenticity, an innovative Xacobeo, capable of promoting a Galicia that is increasingly more technological, more digital and more committed to emerging sectors.

During his intervention, Feijóo stressed that the most important thing is that it is not a project for an isolated year, but rather a project that begins from this moment and with a horizon that looks to 2027 and 2032, the following holy years. In this way, he recalled that the situation is similar to that experienced in his day with Xacobeo 93; “and, therefore, we must put the same interest and the same implication to make it a new turning point in our history,” he stressed.

Thanks to the anticipation with which we are working, more than 33 million have already been invested, a figure to which will now be added, at least, the 247.7 million that are now included in the strategic plan to continue advancing on the roadmap initially drawn up until 2021. “We are talking about a roadmap that marks not only what we are going to do but also how we are going to do,” said the head of the Xunta, while specifying that the Holy Year is not the mere sum of a series of religious events, cultural programs or festivities, but is the opportunity to give, all, the best, to offer together the best Galicia.

Xacobeo green, authentic, familiar and young

In this sense, the strategic plan defines the coming Holy Year as a green Xacobeo, committed to its authenticity, to what identifies it most: the Way, the landscape, the heritage, the gastronomy itself. “And in this sense, sustainability and quality must be inalienable objectives for both Galicians and visitors to join in the care and promotion of our wealth”, but also as an innovative Xacobeo, able to promote a Galicia increasingly technological, more digital and more committed to emerging sectors. And a family Xacobeo, which combines the interests and visions of all generations and also of all groups, ensuring that it is accessible to all, regardless of age, situation or place in which he lives. The plan, which was presented to all parliamentary groups, also includes 68 measures provided by the parliamentary groups through the Xacobeo2021 working group set up at the beginning of the year.

For all these reasons, Feijóo considers that they are working with all the necessary strength and instruments to open a Xacobeo period for which it will be necessary for all Galicians to get involved. Throughout this time great steps have already been taken: the rehabilitation of the Cathedral, the landscape recovery of the more than 1,500 kilometers of the Roads of Santiago, both at its passage through more than 120 municipalities and at the entrances in Santiago, the new Pilgrim Reception Centre, the improvement of the facilities of Monte del Gozo, and a total of 12 hostels were added to the regional network to greater than there were in Xacobeo 2010. And to all this is added the pilgrim spirit, which has only grown in recent years with 20% more pilgrims today than in the last Holy Year. And, in addition, with two important milestones: in 2012, for the first time the number of foreign pilgrims surpassed those from the whole of Spain, to the point that, at this time, the percentage is 65 % compared to 35%. Likewise, in 2017 the psychological barrier of 300,000 pilgrims was surpassed (in 2018 it was 327,378).

For all these reasons, the President of the Galician Government concluded by saying that the Xacobeo 2021 is called to be the beginning of Galicia of the new decade “and the starting gun for our illusions and our common expectations”.