The Galician region is the second autonomous community with the highest number of ‘Q’ Tourism Quality awards and the third in terms of ‘S’ Tourism Sustainability accreditations
The Pazo de Toubes, in the municipality of Cenlle, hosted the ceremony to recognise the Galicia Calidade, Q for Tourism Quality and S for Tourism Sustainability certifications, an event attended by the Director of Tourism for Galicia, Xosé Merelles, accompanied by the Xunta’s representative in Ourense, Manuel Pardo, and the Director-General of the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality (ICTES), Fernando Fraile. The event served to highlight the Galician tourism sector’s commitment to excellence, continuous improvement and sustainability.
During the event, the work of the tourism organisations and services that had obtained these distinctions throughout 2024 and 2025 was recognised. In total, certificates were awarded for 50 new ‘Q’ for Tourism Quality certifications, 71 ‘S’ for Tourism Sustainability certifications and four new ‘Galicia Calidade’ certifications, awarded to companies from the four Galician provinces.
During his speech, the Director of Tourism for Galicia emphasised that these three accreditations “represent much more than just a seal of approval: they are proof of an ongoing commitment to continuous improvement, professionalisation and the pursuit of a tourism model that is dedicated to excellence and respect for the region”.
Galicia’s Leadership
Referring specifically to the ‘Q’ Tourism Quality Accreditations, Galicia’s Director of Tourism highlighted the region’s leading position in this field and pointed out that Galicia remains the autonomous community with the second-highest number of ‘Q’ Tourism Quality Accreditations, with a total of 322, second only to Andalusia. Furthermore, sectors such as travel agencies, rural accommodation, tourist hostels, marinas, unique public spaces, active tourism and tourist routes continue to play a significant role in Spain.
On the subject of sustainability, he highlighted that Galicia now has 108 organisations holding the ‘S’ certification for Tourism Sustainability, placing it third nationally. “It is worth highlighting the significant effort made over the past year, during which we went from having 64 accreditations of this type to the current 108, representing an increase of more than 68 per cent,” he noted.
Tourism figures
As he explained, these certifications have a direct impact on the development of the Galician tourism sector. “The figures for these first few months of 2026 show that Galicia continues to grow, not only in terms of visitor numbers but also in terms of quality,” he said. In this regard, he pointed out that between January and May, Galicia welcomed more than 1.6 million visitors and recorded almost 2.3 million overnight stays in its tourist accommodation.
Xosé Merelles made special referring to developments in the province of Ourense, where “the number of visitors rose by 7.9 per cent and the number of overnight stays by almost 15.5 per cent”. In his view, “Ourense is by far the best-performing province in terms of tourism figures recorded between January and May 2026”.
Galicia’s Head of Tourism stated that these results “are not a matter of chance”. “They are the result of joint efforts between the private sector and public authorities,” he said, whilst reiterating that “here at the Xunta, we are very clear that quality must continue to be one of the fundamental pillars of our tourism policy”.
Towards the end of his speech, Xosé Merelles emphasised that “excellence is not an end in itself. It is a tool for making Galicia a more competitive destination, capable of attracting visitors all year round, generating stable employment and creating wealth in our regions”.
With the Xacobeo 2027 just around the corner, the Director of Tourism for Galicia concluded that “we have a duty to welcome 2027 with greater guarantees of quality” and expressed his conviction that “with the event held this morning, we will do just that”. Finally, he stated that “Galicia has a future, and in that future, quality is a means of achieving the standard – and above all, the prosperity and well-being – of all Galicians, but also of consolidating our reputation and image abroad”.
