It is easier to buy a souvenir than bread

If in 1994 you had a return through the center of Santiago de Compostela, you will most likely meet tourists, pilgrims (some with limp), students and university professors. More or less the same as today. What has changed is The backdrop. Three decades ago in the historic center there were hundreds of business -oriented businesses: shoe stores, clothing stores, kiosks, bakeries, overseas, bookstores … today the Tourist of the city has devoured them to reduce them to the third part. In fact there is already More stores For travelers than for compostelans.

Hence your City Council has said “enough”.

Santiago, more tourist. In 1999 the hotels, hostels and residences of Santiago de Compostela housed around 488,800 travelers. In 2023 they were more than 926,100. That tourist boom, encouraged by The popularity of the roadhe growth of his airport and his own impulse from Spain As an international destination, he has left his mark in the city. In their homes and especially in your trade, such as I recognized this week The Santiago City Council with figures on the table that show that business -oriented businesses have been giving ground to tourism centered.

From 645 to 202 businesses. The figures are resounding. According to the official data that the City Council handles (and Public consultation), In 1990 in the historical area there were 645 stores oriented to residents, a wide label that are included from food, clothing and furniture stores to kiosks, drug stores, pharmacies, jewelry stores or hardware stores. Today are 202. The descent has been especially pronounced among the premises dedicated to food (They dropped from 125 to 35) or clothing and lingerie (121 passed to only 44).

The “sorpasso” of tourism. The data is striking in itself, but there is another even more curious. The number of neighbors -oriented shops has descended so much in the last decades that there are more local tourism centered today. The City Council has accounted for 92 stores of memories and souvenirs, 72 specialized in crafts, jewelry and design and another 43 businesses of typical or delicatessen products. In total 207 businesses “with some tourist orientation”, half dozen more than those focused on neighbors.

A analysis Of the spaces located in the low floors of the historic complex of Santiago, it also shows that 45% are dedicated to trade, 31% to leisure and restoration, 8% to lodging (the same percentage as to tertiary equipment) and 7% to offices. Curiously, between 1996 and 2025 the population of the historic city increased 26%although with sensitive falls in half a dozen streets located near or within the monumental area and pilgrim passages.

The City Council moves file. With that data on the table, the City of Santiago has decided move token and put limits to the Tourist of your trade. On Wednesday his Urban Planning Council presented a change in the Special Plan for the Protection and Rehabilitation of the Historical City that basically seeks to “maintain and reinforce the residential use” of the old town and “promote the preservation” of the proximity trade. In summary: “Ensure the balance between uses oriented to residents and tourists oriented.”

The normative change has already received the approval of the local government, but it still has been traveled to move into practice. Before you must undergo public exposure, receive the Consistory OK again and overcome the Plenary exam. If it achieves it, a process will culminate that the city began a year ago.

And what planet exactly? “Put Coto” to Three types of businesses In the historic center of Santiago, all with a clear tourist approach: memories and souvenirs stores, typical products and automated establishments, such as vending stores, The slogans or laundries without dependents.

Another of its most forceful measures is to veto the game stores, such as casinos, bingos or bets, in the monumental area. “In addition, the prohibition of opening new lodging establishments in any of its modalities,” Precise The City Council.

Reflating trade. Although the above is the summary of thick stroke, The Santiago plan It is actually more complex and has more legs. For example, Lestegás He advanced That the City Council is looking for a way to recover a line of aid to rehabilitate and conserve historical, emblematic or special value, a commitment that has already been bet in the late 1990s. The plan drawn by the City Council also provides housing oriented measures.

Santiago is not the only city that has seen how its neighborhoods, commerce and hospitality Tourist little by little. A few months ago It transcended A report of the City of Malaga in which it was alerted that the city “is experiencing unprecedented tourist saturation levels,” and warned: “The pressure can cause the expulsion of native business and added value, being replaced by souvenir stores and tourist -oriented shops.”

Images | Juan Antonio Segal (Flickr) and Ánxela Pérez (Flickr)

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