[Gocamino] More on 2006 pilgrims

[blaroli at aol.com]

Hello you all,
Gosh.... so much interest! 
First, there was an error in the earlier message: the number of Compostela-earning pilgrims that manifested a religious-cultural interest was, actually, 49,726.
The month-to-month pilgrims were:
January, 314; February, 351, March, 1,093; April, 7,438; May, 9,992; June, 12,946; July, 18,560; August, 25,968; September, 13,451; October, 7,661; November, 1,755 and December, 848.
To save time, here are the top twenty, in pilgrim numbers, of the 135 listed, pilgrim countries, other than Spain, in Spanish alphabetical order, and the equivalent 2005 numbers (in parenthesis):
Germany 8,097 (7,155); Australia - including Wendy Morris- 730 (666); Austria 1,422 (1,470=; Belgium 1,443 (1,283); Brasil 1,172 (1,163); Canada 1,546 (1,420); Denmark 801 (698); United States 1,909 (2,047); France 6,791 (5,909); Holland 1,633 (1,610); Hungary 609 (326); Ireland 849 (622); ITALY 10,013 (7,430); Mexico 484 (473); Poland 600 (422); Portugal 3,365 (2,574); United Kingdom 1,541 (1,512); Chekoslovakia 399 (330); Sweden 411 (340); Switzerland 780 (726).
Pilgrims also came from Mauricio (?), the Feroe Islands (?), Iran, Israel and even Pakistan.
For those of you with specific questions about countries not included above:  Iceland 22 (10); New Zealand 138 (125); Norway 373 (278).
I should think that the decline in U.S. pilgrims might be due to the continuing fall of the Dollar. An Euro costs about $1.40 and it is expected to be at least $1.50 by the Summer because of the growing domestic deficit and the national debt, or so the newspapers say.
 Again, the figures available only show those pilgrims who actually received the Compostela. As we know, thex represent about 1/5 of the actual pilgrims on the various routes of the Camino at any time.
 
Big hug!
 
Rosina