The Portuguese Way detects thousands of pilgrims without counting
The Tudense researcher Alfonso Ferreira presented the study he carried out in the Portuguese Way, in the months of February, May, August and November 2024. An event that was attended by the mayor of Tui, Enrique Cabaleiro, who referred to Alfonso Ferreira as an “exceptional pilgrim.” With his meticulous statistical research Alfonso Ferreira showed that numerous pilgrims who arrive in Tui via the Camiño da Costa are not counted in the official statistics.
Ferreira carried out his sociological research at two points, the Virgin of the Camino and the Ponte das Febres. In this work, which covers the flow of pilgrims in these four months, a total of 39,546 were counted (871 in February, 14,693 in May, 21,970 in August and 2,012 in November), which would mean an annual figure of 118,638 pilgrims. Last year, the Pilgrim Office of the Cathedral of Santiago delivered 93,176 “Compostelas” to pilgrims on the Portuguese Way, which would be in line with studies that indicate that over 25% of pilgrims do not collect the “Compostela”.
On the other hand, the study shows that 56% are women and 44% are men. By age: 20-40 and 40-60 years old, and 73.5% have with higher education. Ferreira counted pilgrims from 73 countries. Foreigners are 57.5% and come from Portugal, Germany, Italy, USA, United Kingdom, Brazil, Czechia, Australia, Canada, Holland, Poland or Ireland. As for the Spanish, they come from Andalusia, Madrid, Valencia or Catalonia.
Of those surveyed, 3,532 (84%) completed the Portuguese Way and 702 (16%) arrive in Tui through the official route in Portugal of the Caminho Portugués de la Costa. On the other hand, the vast majority of the pilgrims surveyed claim to have learned about this Portuguese Way of Tui thanks to “word of mouth” and 91% visited Tui.
The conclusions of this work question the data of the Pilgrim's Office of the Santiago Cathedral, since 16% arrive in Tui via the Camiño da Costa and are counted in the route through Aguarda and Vigo.
