The conselleiro of Culture and Tourism, Román Rodríguez, accompanied by the director of the Axencia Turismo de Galicia, Nava Castro, held a meeting with fifty public and private agents representing the various fields of the capital among which were also representatives of the Galician Tourism Cluster with the aim of advancing in the main challenges that will involve the celebration of the next Holy Year. In this sense, the conselleiro encouraged to promote measures that, with a view to the Xacobeo 2021, strengthen the goal of the Camino de Santiago as a better place to visit and live, with special interest in the diversification of flows around the Cathedral and the expansion of tourist circuits revaluing the resources of the whole of Santiago de Compostela.
Román Rodríguez also advanced that the Xunta will carry out an analysis by university professionals in order to make Compostela a better city to visit but also to live in, reinforcing Santiago de Compostela as a quality destination.
“The Xacobeo 21 can be a turning point for Santiago de Compostela, which must recover the best of itself and still has an enormous unknown potential that the Holy Year has to help us to revalue and share,” said the conselleiro. “We want a Xacobeo that leaves its mark and has repercussions on the development of Galicia but with its sights also set on 1 January 2022”, he pointed out, stressing that the organisation of this great event must be done with vision and foresight. In this sense, it will promote tourism between different profiles of visitors and the distribution of tourists throughout the year. It also stresses the need to promote the dispersion of visitors both inside and outside the city and measure and monitor tourism.
Incidentally, Roman Rodriguez said that the Xunta asked the central government for a State Statistics Plan to improve sources of information and advanced the conduct of an analysis by university professionals, coordinated by Professor Anton Alvarez Sousa, coordinator of the Master in Planning and Management of Tourist Destinations and Products. The main objective expressed by the conselleiro is the achievement of measures to put into practice in the coming years.
“We believe it is a priority to design a strategy that is capable of managing tourism through measures such as the dispersion of visitors from the centre to other areas, boosting new itineraries, boosting less frequented places and encouraging deseasonalisation”, said the conselleiro about the design of a new tourist and cultural space that takes into account the entire offer of the city and its surroundings, incorporating and boosting the xacobean footprint, museums, religious and civil heritage, City of Culture, University, commerce, crafts, festivals, nature or food and wine resources.