Management of Tourist Flows. The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

 The end of the 1980s witnessed the revival of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, popularly known as “el camino”, a fact that brought with it the development of tourism in the city. However, pilgrims have not been the only source of such growth as there have been cultural tourists too. Flows particularly increase during the Compostela Holy Years, i.e., when the 25th of July, St. James’ festivity, falls on a Sunday. The increased track record of visitors in the city since the holy year of 1993 already foresaw a high volume of visitors for the 2010 Holy Year. In order to avoid excessive overcrowding of the cathedral and all its negative effects, a study was developed for proposals to manage tourist flows. This article explains the methodology used for this study and analyses the results of its implementation. We highlight the problems encountered, not only due to the partial implementation of the measures proposed, but also due to the concentration of actions in the cathedral and not in the destination as a whole.