Fairway is consolidated in its third edition as the great forum of the Camino de Santiago and will gather in the Compostela Palace of Congresses companies, organizations, institutions and professionals linked to the Jacobean route in fourteen countries on four continents, accentuating its international character. Thus, countries such as South Africa, Australia, Mexico, France or Belgium will premiere in the event, while the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, Italy and Portugal repeat, which in this edition reinforces its presence.

Fairway 19, which will take place between February 10 and 12, will also present important news. These include the Fairway Invest investment forum or the Fairway Academy training program, which will join the symposia and debate round tables of the congress or Fairway Open Day, which will offer a complete program of activities for all the publics

Workshop

Fairway continues betting on the workshop as a successful format to facilitate work meetings between Hosted Buyers and all those professionals, companies and public bodies linked to any of the Caminos de Santiago that are interested in making them aware of their products, destinations and services.

They have already confirmed their attendance as Hosted Buyers a total of 35 companies from more than a dozen countries, among which are South Africa, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Ireland, France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain. These are tour operators, issuing travel agencies, reservation centers and on-line agencies, which have been invited by the organization to participate in the workshop.

On the other hand, sellers exceed 121, reaching the available capacity. In the private sphere, establishments dedicated to the hotel trade (hotels, rural houses, hostels, tourist apartments, restaurants, etc.) predominate and the travel agencies whose main product is the Camino de Santiago, but we also find companies that promote services of guides and excursions, transport of people and backpacks, bicycle rental or even wineries and mobile application developers. They come from abroad (Ireland, Portugal, France, Canada and Italy), Spain (Asturias, Cantabria, Euskadi, Navarra, La Rioja, Castilla y León, Navarra and the Balearic Islands) and the Galician provinces of A Coruña, Lugo and Pontevedra.

As for the public agencies, they will take part in the Fairway workshop, in addition to Correos and Paradores, communities such as Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla y León, La Rioja and Catalonia, mancomunidades such as O Salnés, geodestinos such as Costa da Morte and concellos like A Guarda, Fisterra, Mondoñedo or Santiago.

Enrollment in the workshop makes us estimate that in the two days of Fairway there will be around 16,000 work meetings, which will mean an increase of 35 percent compared to the second edition.

International Fair

At the fair, Fairway will be more than ever the meeting point of all those people and institutions linked to the Camino de Santiago. We can find around fifty stands in which more than a hundred exhibitors will be present. The present Galician councils will exceed fifty. All the communities through which the French Way passes will participate. The outstanding Portuguese presence is also highlighted by the rise of the Portuguese Way, which is already the second route that most pilgrims attract, and which will be present in Fairway with the Caminho Portuguese to Santiago, the Caminho Portuguese pela Costa and a total of thirteen municipal cameras.

Other official and less traveled itineraries, such as the North Road, the Winter Road or the Sail the Way sea route, as well as foreign pilgrimage routes such as the Kumano Kodo Japanese route (through the Wakayama prefecture, twinned) will also be exhibited. with Galicia) or the Italian one of San Francisco de Asís.

Conferences, discussion tables and training program

Thinking about the needs and interests of the professional, very heterogeneous, who works linked to the Camino de Santiago, Fairway will provide on Monday and Tuesday a series of conferences and discussion tables that will cover diverse topics.

The consideration of the Camino de Santiago as an experiential trip, the specialization, the existence of other routes or what the next Xacobeo of 2021 will bring us, the security of the itineraries and the accommodation regulation will be its central axes.

The Fairway program is completed in this edition with a training cycle that will take place on the day of Monday 11 and will be constituted by eminently practical workshops, followed by conferences. Aimed at tourism professionals and students, it will focus on two themes: digital marketing and online reputation.

Participation in all these activities will be free but registration is required (https://www.fairwaysantiago.com/inscripcion).

Fairway Invest

Fairway Invest, which will take place on February 12, will be the space in which entrepreneurs can find funding to materialize their initiatives linked to the Jacobean route. This day brings a contest of ideas for startups, from which will come a winning project that will get a prize of 5,000 euros.

Organized by Keiretsu Forum, the largest private investor network in the world, Fairway Invest will also include a morning of conferences on topics related to investment and business. Among the speakers, there will be reference experts such as Gonzalo Tradacete, from Faraday, or Irene González, from Everis. Why and how to invest in high-risk projects or what criteria should be taken into account when deciding an investment are some of the issues that will be addressed.