Consolidación de Santiago de Compostela como destino turístico global

Abstract

The following article shows the evolution of tourism in Santiago de Compostela, the final destination of the Way of Saint James and World Heritage City, since 2005 until today. The aim is to show how in the year 2011, as a consequence of the Spanish economic crisis, it became necessary to transform the model of tourism demand of the city.
Therefore, we display the main tourism figures taken into account by Turismo de Santiago de Compostela, to know the situation of the sector in the city as accurately as possible. These figures are: Air traffic at Santiago de Compostela airport, evolution of pilgrims walking the “Camino de Santiago”, and overnight stays in the city. In addition to these objective and reliable sources, Turismo de Santiago de Compostela also founds its analysis on the knowledge and experience of its staff, who’s managing the tourist destination since 1999.
Finally, in an attempt to show how destination management is a dynamic activity, set in an ultra-competitive and fast evolving sector, we allude to the phenomenon of the tourist apartments in the city, whose management is one of the big challenges that we face today, although it goes way beyond our competencies as it is closely related to urban planning policies.