The Way of Sant James

• This morning, the Director of Turismo de Galicia, Nava Castro, participated in the meeting at which approval as given to the Board Regulations whereby these two itineraries were incorporated.
• Nava Castro informed on the work of her Department, which includes improvements to accessibility at the hostels, road safety measures and reinforced signposting of the new routes.
• She also informed that in 2018 the Master and Strategic Plan of the Camino will be focused on the Portuguese Way and the Portuguese Coastal Way.

Santiago de Compostela, May 4, 2017

This morning, the Director of Turismo de Galicia, Nava Castro, participated in the meeting of the Board of the Camino de Santiago in the province of Pontevedra, which was composed of the Xunta de Galicia, the Town Halls where the Jacobean Route passes in this province and the Pontevedra Council.

At the meeting, the Board approved the regulations whereby the Portuguese Coastal Way and the Winter Way, once officially declared to be Ways of Santiago, are incorporated as well as the Portuguese Way and the Vía de la Plata- Mozarabic Way.

During the meeting, the person responsible for Tourism of the Xunta highlighted the data on pilgrims which surpassed 52,000 by the Portuguese Way in 2016, and then informed on the work carried out regarding signposting, accessibility, safety and promotion executed on the routes in the province.

On this point, he reminded those present that, after the official declaration of the Portuguese Coastal Way and the Winter Way as Ways of Santiago, while awaiting the delimitation of these routes, Turismo de Galicia is promoting the reinforcement of the existing provisional signposting by placing milestones, plaques, arrows and bronze shells.

In the case of the Portuguese Coastal Way more than 80 milestones were put in place, a figure similar to those being placed on the Winter Way, where a total of 78 were put in place.

Road safety

Improvements were made to the road surfaces and throughout 2016 and so far in 2017, the Clearing and Cleaning Service of the Ways carried out work on the roadsides of the routes as they pass through the province, collaborating with the Town Halls in this work. Likewise, information was provided regarding the fact that, safeguarded by the participation of the Xunta de Galicia in the Road Safety Commission of the Camino de Santiago promoted by the Delegation of the Government, Work is being carried out in order to reinforce the horizontal and vertical signposting on several national and Autonomous Community highways in the province.

As regards the Public Network of Hostels of the Xunta, information was provided that, in those in the province of Pontevedra, improvements were made to accessibility in the installations intended  for persons with reduced mobility (bedrooms and bathrooms), as well as to the signposting which is now tactile.

Finally, the Director of Turismo de Galicia also informed on the promotional activities carried out on these routes, which include the publication of brochures, as well as attendance at fairs and the organisation of fam press and fam trips on which several tour operators from places such as Ireland and the United States travelled along one of the routes in the province of Pontevedra.

She also informed that in 2018, within the programming of the Master and Strategic Plan of the Camino de Santiago, it is planned to pay special attention to the Portuguese Way and to the Portuguese Coastal Way, with reinforcements and improvements to the signposting and improvements to the road surfaces and the commencement of the procedure for the creation of a pilgrim hostel in the city of Vigo.