Our Community is home to the top hot spring region in Spain and the second in Europe, Ourense being the city with the second largest reserves of mineral-medicinal waters in Europe. Specifically, the highest concentration of thermal waters in Galicia is found in the regions of Ourense, O Carballiño and O Ribeiro.

Galicia is also a benchmark in Spain for its experience in the development and enhancement of the hot spring sector. The 21 spas in the Community, six of them with the Q tourist quality seal, 11 hot spring spaces and three thalassotherapy centres are proof of this. Galicia offers 3,000 hotel rooms linked to hot springs.

The Galician Regional Government considers hot springs a sector to be promoted, given its many facets (health, tourism, business and environmental), so a joint project between the different administrations is being carried out to bring it the attention it deserves within the Galician economy.

A pioneering Law in Spain

The Galician Government approved the first Law in Spain to regulate the recreational use of the thermal waters, a pioneering regulation in Spain that allows for safe and organised growth of the sector within the Community.

Galicia becomes the first Autonomous Community to regulate the different uses of thermal waters, establishing a new use that clearly distinguishes spa establishments, with therapeutic uses and that are regulated by a 1995 law, from hot spring spaces and pools with recreational uses, which are the focus of the regulation. In this way, Galicia responds to both a business reality and a real demand in today's society, offering legal security and guarantees to tourism projects that, until now, had no specific regulations.

The aims of the law are to ensure the health and hygiene of the recreational use of thermal waters; to guarantee the environmental sustainability of thermal waters to avoid the degradation of their quality and the reduction of their flow; to protect their integrity as a natural, historical, cultural, tourist and recreational resource; and to promote the economic and social development of the populations where these waters are found.

Among the most relevant aspects of the regulation - which as a precondition establishes that the waters must be declared thermal - are: the regulation of the cases of compatibility of the new recreational uses with the spa establishments and their perimeters of protection; the establishment of the procedure to obtain administrative authorisations, renewable every 10 years, for the persons or private entities and concessions of 30 years, extendible up to 75 in the case of public entities; the requirement of the financial guarantee, civil liability insurance, a four-year use plan and the restitution of the situation to the original state after the end of the use; it marks the accessibility, security and hygienic-sanitary conditions of the facilities; aside from a regime of inspection and sanctions with fines ranging from 300 to 90,000 euros. The law aims to protect this resource and guarantee the health and safety of the facilities for users.

Measures to support the sector

In addition, there are other measures such as the aid line launched this year for the conditioning and improvement of the hot spring spaces for recreational use in the Community, and the importance that thermal villages and historic centres will have in the 3rd Territorial Plan for Tourism Development in Destination for the 2023-2026 period.

The Galician Regional Government has established thermal waters as one of its main lines of action, promoting hot springs as source of socio-economic stimulation in the territory, especially in rural environments, through product creation strategies and technologies for sustainable and intelligent tourism management. Galicia offers quality tourism, without crowds and plenty of nature to enjoy.