Sustainability and visitor management in tourist historic cities: the case of Santiago de Compostela, Spain

ABSTRACT

Tourism has a leading role in heritage cities and this implies a major challenge. The overall objective of this paper is to evaluate the performance of tourism planning and management with the view of achieving sustainable tourism in the historic center of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The study addresses topics collected during a long research process of more than 10 years, such as strategic tourism plans, the implementation of quality management systems for tourism, the tourist supply and the regulation of flows. The results show a destination that has introduced alternatives to improve the tourism experience and diversify its offer beyond the Camino de Santiago. There is also growing concern in promoting the sustainability of the historic center. From our point of view, the strengthening of synergies between the different agents involved in the tourism sector of the city has been a key factor in dealing with this situation. However, in this sense, the main problem which is decongesting the tourist flows to the cathedral and its surroundings is still unresolved.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainability
• visitor management
• carrying capacity
• heritage management
• heritage cities
• Santiago de Compostela

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Yamilé Pérez is a research associate in the Territorial Analysis Research Group (ANTE) at the University of Santiago de Compostela. She holds a PhD in management and tourism planning. Her research interests include cultural tourism, sustainable management in heritage cities, and urban territorial planning. She is a member of the Directive Board of the University Association of Social Science and Humanities Galicia Ibero-America (AGALI).

Rubén C. Lois is a professor of regional geographic analysis at the University of Santiago de Compostela. He is a specialist in urban and cultural geography. His research includes sustainability in historic cities, cultural itineraries and pilgrimage routes. He is currently the Director of the Center for Euroregional Studies Galicia-Northern Portugal (CEER) and the Coordinator of the Territorial Analysis Research Group (ANTE) at the University of Santiago de Compostela.

Notes

1 Official figures from the Municipal Census at 1 January 2012 (IGE, 2013).

2 The City of Culture is a large architectural complex designed by the architect Peter Eisenman at the request of the Government of Galicia. It is in Santiago de Compostela at the top of Gaias Hill. Its construction began in 1999, was partially opened in 2011, and in 2013 the works were stopped leaving two unfinished buildings: the Music and Performing Arts Center and the International Art Center (Vila Vazquez, 2014).

3 A Jacobean Holy Year is on the 25th of July, the day of St. James the Apostle, falls on a Sunday. During the Holy Year the faithful arriving to Santiago can receive the indulgence of their sins, provided they meet three requirements: visit the Cathedral, pray a prayer and pray for the Pope’s intentions, and receive the sacraments of penance and communion (Tourism of Santiago, 2016).