**5. Driving Factors for Pilgrimage Mentioned by the Interviewees**

In an early phase of the *touristization* of the way, from 1993 onwards, one of the interviewees asserts that most pilgrims had religious motivations, namely those associated with the Catholic faith. According to the same participant, nowadays, more than religious factors, what is at the origin of the pilgrimage is the spiritual dimension.

The search for something higher, something inherent to the human being, the discovery of a sign, of self-knowledge, of an answer, is where this spirituality is based, considering that spirituality is a form of contemporary religiosity. This quest may be triggered by diverse factors: individuals (young or not) who are going through a sentimental problem, people who want to change professions, or even individuals who have lost loved ones. In fact, the testimonies of the interviewees corroborate the need to overcome, as already mentioned.

In turn, another interviewee, co-owner of a restaurant where many pilgrims pass, claims that the motivations are divided "half for religious reasons, half for spiritual reasons". Another interviewee, associated with a Catholic religious organisation, claims that the vast majority of pilgrims travel for a "cultural and religious motivation" and a minority for sports. An interviewee belonging to the Department of Culture and Tourism of a municipality through which one of the Portuguese itineraries passes through is of the same opinion: "There is also a sports motivation, and this is clearly also on the rise".

There is, therefore, a tendency for the sports practice and the spiritualities associated with the Way to increase as driving factors of the pilgrimage. Cultural motivation comprises spiritual motivations and is distinguished from "a purely religious dimension of faith". This cultural motivation may also have been triggered by the expansion of low-cost airlines which proliferate at the Francisco Sá Carneiro airport, which serves Porto, but also the whole northern region of Portugal and Galicia in Spain. The dimension of the various spiritualities is an individualist demand that contrasts with a collective vision of pilgrimage.

The pilgrims who move for religious reasons are not necessarily Catholic. The testimonies of the interviewees reveal that the Way is ecumenical, as one interviewee, associated with a Catholic organisation and an experienced pilgrim, says: "We actually find people of all nationalities and some more and people of different religions walking the Way of Santiago".

According to the representative of an institution devoted to the study of the Ways, "human nature has in its nature the desire to go on a pilgrimage", according to this interviewee "it has to do with our desire for transcendence". It follows that pilgrimage is an inherent dimension of the monotheistic religions (and not only...). Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox, and Protestant believers often make the journey, as well as Christian minorities from China and South Korea, or Japanese of monotheistic religion.

One participant in this study, co-owner of a restaurant located near a pilgrimage route, even has "half a dozen scallops without the cross because the Muslims come and don't want a scallop with a cross on it". And as for the Jews, he mentions: "They pass by, they even pass by with the kippah". Another interviewee, vice-president of a Catholic institution, is also emphatic in this regard when he states: "I have never done the Pilgrims' Way to Santiago with people of other religions, but I am perfectly aware that there are Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus doing the Way to Santiago".

Still, within the Christian confession, the Orthodox and Lutherans also frequent the Way regularly. Otherwise, let us pay attention to what the representative of an institution specialising in the Portuguese Way of Santiago says: "Since 2005, Orthodox, but they were Ukrainian Orthodox, came to us and for many years the director of this pilgrimage was Doctor Iuri, professor at our Physics Faculty here". In what concerns Protestants, he adds: "There are Lutherans and there are those of Dr Pina Cabral, who was an Anglican bishop (...). He was a bishop and very interested in the ways".

An interviewee belonging to the hierarchy of a Catholic religious organisation states that he made the Way of Santiago with agnostics. He says: "I've met, I've crossed paths and I've already made the road to Santiago with people, therefore, agnostics. People without any religion. I have never walked the Camino de Santiago with people of other religions, but I am perfectly aware that there are Buddhists, there are Muslims, there are Hindus doing the one in Santiago. That I don't have the slightest doubt. As there are Catholics who will make Buddhist paths and go to India to do some paths of pilgrimage".

On the other hand, an employee of an Interactive Tourism Shop in a city located near the city of Porto refers to the existence of "secular pilgrimages". According to him, "This goes against the spirit a little bit, not to say that it goes against the spirit a lot, but it already exists". In fact, even among the hosts of the pilgrim hostels, there is the awareness that associating the Way with the Christian religion may drive away "many people that hate the Church, but that is on the Way". According to an official of an association of hostels of the Portuguese Way, the good reception of pilgrims discourages "attaching too much [the Way] to the image of the Church".

The quest on the Way of Santiago, according to the same interviewee, lies more in the journey itself and less in the arrival at the shrine, as happens in Fátima. For the pilgrim to Santiago, "the pleasure is to go, not to arrive", according to this interviewee.

In turn, the interviewee responsible for a Catholic organisation associates the increase in the number of pilgrims on the Portuguese Way, which is clearly visible in the charts and tables mentioned above, with the "overbooking of the French Way".

Since the Compostela is an indulgence, even nowadays the Way may be seen as an alternative to imprisonment due to a crime committed in the pilgrims' region of origin (Shaver-Crandell 1982). The same participant witnessed this phenomenon when he came across a group of inmates from Ourense who were on their way to Santiago as part of "their end-of-year project (...) an activity to make the Way of Santiago". The inmates were travelling during the Holy Year, which according to the same interviewee is a time of "full forgiveness of our sins". In this sense, the pilgrimage is a reaction "to the materialism of the world".
