The innovative staging of the Way of St. James at Fitur 2022

Galicia stands out at Fitur 2022 with a booth of more than 1,000 square meters, where the Camino de Santiago is the main attraction. In this Holy Year, it presents itself as a safe tourist destination, combining tradition, nature, culture, and active tourism.

As every year and every January, Fitur, the International Tourism Fair returns, held at the Ifema exhibition center in Madrid. On Wednesday, January 19, the curtain will rise on this event, which we will be able to enjoy until Sunday, January 23. Galicia, of course, will be present, showcasing all its tourism potential and, as it could not be otherwise, with the Camino de Santiago as the main protagonist.

The great value of Galicia, and of all

Three words: Camino de Santiago. With great pride and passion, Galicia will be present at Fitur carrying the Camino de Santiago as its banner, a value and tourism asset of great importance for the autonomous community, as well as for others. Furthermore, in a 2022 Jacobean year extended after a 2021 of recovery due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, with nearly 180,000 compostelas issued, it is expected to be a new record year in the influx of pilgrims, as it had been until 2019.

On Monday, January 10, the manager of the Galicia Tourism Agency, Emilio de la Iglesia, presented Galicia's proposal as a tourist destination, specifically emphasizing the Camino de Santiago. In the presentation, held at the Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de Galicia in Santiago de Compostela, de la Iglesia highlighted the leadership that Galicia has had in national tourism recovery, ranking well above the average. In this 42nd edition of the fair, Galicia will insist that it is a safe tourist destination, as it did in 2021 and, in de la Iglesia's words, "it will do so again in 2022".

However, not only Galicia will celebrate the Camino de Santiago at Fitur, but other autonomous communities through which it passes, such as Castilla y León or Navarra, will also have exhibition spaces where they will showcase the passage of the Camino de Santiago through their lands.

As always, a great stand

Whenever we talk about Fitur, the stands attract a lot of attention where the exhibitors are located, with those from different countries and participating regions always being very impressive. In the case of Galicia, each year it surpasses itself with spaces that create a sensation, even receiving awards at the event itself, as happened in the 2018 edition.

This year Galicia will present itself in a space of more than 1,000 square meters, a stand, 9C09, with a colorful and modern design, where we will be able to learn more about the tourist products of Galicia but where the main highlight will be the Camino de Santiago. In addition, various co-exhibitors will also have a place within this large container: geodestinations, municipalities, provincial councils, institutions, and others.

The Camino de Santiago in 1,000 square meters

The Camino de Santiago is much larger than that, but it is more than enough space to showcase all the good that the Jacobean routes, always focused on Galicia, offer to the pilgrim. To begin with, visitors to the fair will be able to admire a botafumeiro in life-size made by silversmiths over 60 years ago, which will also be part of an installation that will play with mirrors, symbolizing the various and diverse faces of Galicia as a tourist destination.

"We are going to Fitur with the message that Galicia is in fashion with a quality offer that tourists demand after the pandemic", insists de la Iglesia.

Galicia, with the Camino de Santiago, is "an outdoor tourist oasis", as de la Iglesia states, a safe place to enjoy the tourist benefits of Galicia, thanks to "the responsibility and the sentidinho of professionals, our visitors, and the entire Galician society."

The Camino de Santiago offers active and very healthy tourism, both physically and psychologically, as a recent study states. Furthermore, culture, nature, adventure, gastronomy, and, best of all, all the pilgrims and the people of the Camino de Santiago are present in all the Jacobean routes, and with this, Galicia aims to seduce the pilgrim and tourist and continue to grow in tourism terms.

We have never been so eager to walk

This and other statements are meant to encourage us in the promotional video that Galicia showcases on the official Fitur website, in a clear reference to the strange times we are living in. Galicia was, is, and will continue to be a safe and open destination for national and international tourism, such as the Camino de Santiago from Portugal in this Holy Year and its Xacobeo 2022, and at Fitur it aims to show the fusion of "the traditional values of the Galician tourism offer with the image of a new Galicia in constant transformation, with the Camino de Santiago as the central axis".

We continue to be eager to walk, and we will also walk the halls of Fitur to learn more about the Camino de Santiago.

This 2022, walk to Galicia!