The Botillo Festival obtains the highest distinction: Festival of International Tourist Interest.

On October 23, 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Tourism made public, through a press release, that the Festival de Exaltación del Botillo de Bembibre met all the requirements to obtain the declaration of Fiesta of International Tourist Interest.

The Secretary of State for Tourism granted this declaration once the application submitted by the City Council passed the administrative process.

The Festival de Exaltación del Botillo has been held since 1973, making known the most popular sausage of the gastronomy of Bierzo, and incorporating over the years cultural elements around the celebration, to become an event of great tourist, cultural and gastronomic interest.

The Secretary of State, Rosario Sánchez, emphasized that the Festival de Exaltación del Botillo “is an important stimulus to the tourist offer of the town of Bembibre and the whole region, projecting its external image beyond the national level”.

The celebration of the Festival de Exaltación del Botillo, which in 2008 had already received the distinction as a Festival of National Tourist Interest, was accompanied from its beginnings by cultural events, until 1984, when the I Cultural Week was organized around the Festival, while in 2000 the Feria Agroalimentaria de la Villa de Bembibre was incorporated, which serves as a sample of the products and brands with denomination of origin of Bembibre.