Santiago de Compostela, Feb 24 (EFE).- The Association for Environmental and Consumer Education (Adeac) has delivered this Friday in Galicia its “Blue Trail” flags, with which it has recognized 104 trails throughout Spain, 35 of them in the Galician community.
The 104 distinctions this year are 22 more than last year and recognize trails that already cover 600 kilometers in up to 83 municipalities, 20 provinces and ten autonomous communities, as explained by the president of Adeac, José Palacios.
This year, in addition to Galicia, 104 itineraries located in the autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, the Valencian Community, Cantabria, Asturias, Extremadura, Catalonia, Murcia and Andalusia have received flags. This association promotes this recognition on an annual basis with the aim of recovering and enhancing trails and itineraries throughout the national territory.
At the event, which was held in the City of Culture of Santiago de Compostela, with the participation of the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda; the Minister for the Environment, Territory and Housing, Ángeles Vázquez; and the president of Adeac, the flags have been distributed to the representatives of each of the municipalities in which the recognized trails are located.
Galicia, with 35 blue trails, is the leading autonomous community. In addition, the municipality of Sanxenxo (Pontevedra) stands out, which accumulates seven recognized blue trails and is the municipality in Spain with the most distinctive ones.
Another of the curiosities of this edition is that, for the first time, the flag has been delivered to a path promoted by a university, that of A Coruña (UDC), which has been collected by its rector, Julio Abalde.
During the act, the president of Adeac pointed out that the reasons for choosing Galicia and, more specifically, Santiago as host, are its first position as a community “with the greatest number of flags” and also because the Galician capital is “the goal possibly the best known trail in the world”.
As he has expressed, for 12 centuries “millions of people” have traveled the Camino de Santiago and have discovered that in addition to its spiritual and cultural component, there is a natural and patrimonial wealth and have entered into a process of communication with others that is ” unmatched”.
For his part, the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, who closed the event, recalled that these blue trails are “much more than hiking trails” and that they are itineraries that make up “a set of values”.
In addition, Rueda has claimed that these badges also serve to recognize those who work for “sustainable tourism.”
“This is not about thinking that if you take care of the environment you have to give up economic activity. On the contrary”, Rueda has reflected, who has highlighted the potential of the blue flag paths to attract travelers and strengthen the tourism sector.
The president of the Xunta has stressed that Galicia “is the Way” above all, but that it is also crossed by hundreds of trails that weave a network that identifies the Community with the nature in which it lives and with which it coexists.