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TECHNOLOGY

European travel services hit by major global IT glitch

Businesses across Europe - including airports, airlines and other transport operators - have been hit by major IT problems caused by a rogue software update.

Published: 19 July 2024 09:46 CEST
European travel services hit by major global IT glitch
Several airports have already reported disruption due to the IT problems. Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP

Windows users reporting getting the notorious ‘blue screen of death’ error screens on their systems which prevented them from carrying out their work – a problem caused by a software update on the CrowdStrike security platform.

CrowdStrike’s CEO says the problem has now been identified and a fix deployed, but it’s likely that knock-on disruption could continue for some time.

The air travel industry has been particularly badly hit.

On Friday morning flights were suspended at Berlin airport while passengers at Amsterdam’s Schipol airport reported chaotic scenes and long queues at check-in.

Spain’s airport operator Aena warned that the problems were causing alterations to their network’s system, meaning that they’ve had to go from digital to manual. Aena, which manages 46 airports in Spain, has warned that delays are likely over the course of Friday, but that not all airports are affected equally.

READ MORE: Global IT glitch starts to cause travel chaos in Spain

Meanwhile numerous airlines including Air France, KLM and the budget airline Ryanair reported major IT problems.

Anyone due to fly on Friday is advised to contact their airline before going to the airport.

Meanwhile in the UK Sky News was off the air and several train companies said they were suffering severe IT problems that could lead to train cancellations.

For more detailed country specific information, head to the homepage for The Local France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway or Denmark

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TOURISM

How the rise of the ‘tourgrims’ is spoiling the spirit of Spain’s Camino

The Camino de Santiago pilgrimage is also suffering the consequences of mass tourism in Spain, with uncivil behaviour and overcrowded hostels blighting the historic voyage of faith and self-discovery. 

Published: 19 July 2024 12:56 CEST
How the rise of the 'tourgrims' is spoiling the spirit of Spain's Camino

A term has been coined to describe pilgrims on El Camino de Santiago who resemble the rowdy tourists that usually stick to Spain’s holiday spots: turigrinos (turista + pelegrino), a combination of tourist and pilgrim which we’ve translated as ‘tourgrims’.

In fact, the unofficial word has been around for approximately a decade, but the number of ‘tourgrims’ gets higher every year.

On July 15th, Galicia’s regional president Alfonso Rueda celebrated the record number of pilgrims Santiago de Compostela has received in the first half of 2024. 

Around 235,000 people completed the final 100 kilometre pilgrimage with which makes them eligible to get the Compostela (the religious document that certifies you reached the tomb of the apostle, in other words that you completed the Camino). An estimated 30 percent more who didn’t register also flooded the city during that period.

The right-wing PP leader boasted about the figures without any mention of the knock-on effects of such an onslaught of pilgrims on a city of 96,405 inhabitants, an increasing concern for them.

There have noise complaints as a result of pilgrims singing loudly and using speakers as they reach Santiago, concerns over there being more pilgrims than hostel beds during the summer months (leading in some cases to pilgrims sleeping rough in the street), rubbish left everywhere and Obradoiro Square where Saint James’ Cathedral is located being used as a giant picnic and drinking site.

Vandalism has also been reported, such as the case of a ‘tourgrim’ who arrived in Santiago with a Camino road sign that he’d stolen over his shoulder.

In fact, in 2023 Santiago authorities launched a campaign to raise awareness among pilgrims under the slogan “you have the right to enjoy it and the obligation to take care of it”.

For some years now there has been the sense that the Way of St. James (as the Camino de Santiago is called in English) is no longer a religious pilgrimage but rather a voyage of self-discovery or an adventure.

READ ALSO: Is doing El Camino during winter in Spain worth it?

However, now more than ever pilgrims are behaving like tourists at a holiday resort, travelling in bigger groups rather than individually, overwhelming hostels with their sheer numbers and spending less money overall.

“I think that this is a lack of respect for what the Jacobean route represents, which should not be confused with a party destination, it’s a place of contemplation and even travel discipline,” Antonio Pérez Morata, manager of the O Apalpador hostel in Melide, told regional daily La Voz de Galicia.

Laura Cesarini, who organises Camino tours for Italians, told the newspaper: “We call them ‘tourgrims’. There are more and more of these people who do the Camino de Santiago without knowing what it represents and who are a nuisance during the stages, people who simply walk as if it were a party, not as a way to enjoy nature”.

Arguments in favour of a tourist tax in the northwestern city are based on the fact that the pressure of mass tourism is higher than in Barcelona, Granada or Palma.

So far, Galicia’s Xunta government has denied that Santiago has a problem with mass tourism and snubbed Santiago City Hall’s €2.5 a night tourist tax proposal.

Rueda’s government is also against Santiago authorities’ recent decision to force hundreds of tourist apartments to close.

READ MORE: ‘We won’t look for renters’ – Holiday lets in Spain’s Santiago forced to close 

Keeping in mind the number of Spanish cities and holiday hotspots that in recent months have held protests against the impact mass tourism is having on their lives, it may not be long before locals in Santiago de Compostela raise their voices against unruly pilgrims in their city.

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