Follow the Camino has won first prize at the European Cultural Tourism Network (ECTN) Awards 2024 under the category ‘Transnational Thematic Tourism for Culture and Heritage’. The company was nominated for its work developing and promoting the Camino Portugues Coastal hiking route.

Winners of the ECTN Awards were revealed at a ceremony on 24 October 2024 at Dublin Castle’s famous Portrait Gallery. This event marked the tenth anniversary of the ECTN Awards and the first time it has been hosted in Ireland.

The Camino Portugues Coastal is an adaptation of the traditional ‘Portuguese Way’ of St James to Santiago de Compostela. The pilgrimage runs from the city of Porto along the Atlantic coastline to Santiago de Compostela through the Galicia–North Portugal Euroregion, a historic area of Portugal and Spain that share numerous social, cultural, and economic ties. Creating this walking route for active holidaymakers has contributed to an increased level of regional business activity in a largely rural area impacted by urbanisation and over-tourism.

Follow the Camino partners with accommodation suppliers, restaurants, tour guides, taxi companies, and other businesses across 55+ locations along the Camino Portugues Coastal. In 2014, Follow the Camino founder & CEO Umberto di Venosa visited the area and met with local hospitality businesses and tourism organisations. Then, he created a guidebook and started promoting the route at a time when less than 1,000 people each year were walking the Camino Portugues Coastal (Statistics Office of Santiago Cathedral). Five years later, this had increased to 22,000, and the figure now stands at 52,000 travellers annually, with Follow the Camino organising 229 trips on this route last year alone.

The positive impact of developing this trail and connecting tourists to the unique culture and heritage of Galicia–North Portugal contributed to Follow the Camino’s nomination as an ECTN finalist. ECTN is the only pan-European network for cultural tourism development, with 29 members in 19 countries. ECTN is a member of the European Heritage Alliance and a signatory of the European Travel Commission’s Tourism Manifesto for Growth and Jobs, launched in 2015.

Umberto di Venosa said “Winning this award is an honour. For the Camino Portugues Coastal to be named among exciting and emerging heritage tourism destinations across Europe is testament to the natural beauty of the Portuguese coast, the passion of local communities on the Camino, and the tireless work of those who promote the magic of this peaceful route.”