In 1972, just 67 people completed Europe’s best-known pilgrimage, the historic Camino de Santiago, last year it was 442,073.
As recently as the early 1980s, Europe’s pilgrim trails were in danger of being forgotten, yet today they have become hugely popular with people looking to bring meaning to their travels.
People have recently become more conscious of the age-old attraction of setting out on a pilgrimage.
Many Brits now undertake the lesser-known but, arguably, even more beautiful Via Francigena pilgrimage from Canterbury to Rome. For much of its route, this follows an historic journey undertaken by Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 990AD. In 2022, around 50,000 people completed the route.
New analysis from Monasteries.com reveals that, in the case of the Via Francigena, the top five nationalities are Italians, French, Americans, Spanish and Brits. Two age groups dominate, with 22% of people completing the walk being 22-34 year olds and 22% 55-64 year olds.
It seems the typical profile of modern pilgrims is changing too, just a few years ago, most modern pilgrims travelled in large, predominantly male groups. However, last year, female pilgrims outnumbered males completing the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. Females were also about half of Via Francigena travellers, a notable increase.
50% of pilgrims say sharing experiences is the main reason for travelling the Via Francigena. That’s followed by discovering a new culture 38% and then tourism and spiritual reasons at 35%. That’s perhaps a surprisingly low percentage undertaking a pilgrimage for mostly spiritual or religious reasons, highlighting just how diverse a group contemporary pilgrims are.
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