Impacto socioeconómico del Camino de Santiago a nivel localla percepción de los residentes

Abstract

The presence of pilgrims on the St James way, whose daily flow can exceed the volume of population residing in many locations, necessarily generates economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts for host societies. Knowing the perception of resident population on these impacts, placing residents as the focus of the analysis, is essential for planning and sustainable management of the Way, whose interest goes beyond that of a mere tourist resource. In this context, the aim of the study is to explore residents' perceptions of benefits and/or detriments deriving from the existence of the Way and affluence of pilgrims on sociocultural, economic and environmental dimensions. The analysis is conducted on the basis of the quantitative information obtained from a satisfaction survey. We take two municipalities, Pedrafita do Cebreiro and Melide, which belong to a rural area in social and economic decline, and that are representative of the French Way in its Galician section. The survey results reveal a positive overall perception as well as on the different analyzed dimensions (economic, sociocultural, demographic and environmental), highlighting the fact that residents not perceive tourist saturation in any case. Findings also show that global perception is more positive for individuals deriving income from activities related to tourism and for those having more intensive contact with pilgrims, but do not depend either on the age or the proximity of the individual's residence to the Way