Tourism

Tourism has been the major source of foreign investment for Cape Verde, particularly the Island of Sal. The year round climate, beaches, diversity of scenery and limited development, make Cape Verde a great tropical getaway, with Sal being it’s predominant leisure and tourist destination. Cape Verde has been posting impressive tourism growth year after year.

A total of 357,624 guests checked-in at the hotels and hotel apartments in 2007 against 280,582 guests in the previous year. The guest nights grew by 55 per cent last year. The average length of stay jumped 28.9 % to reach 5.13 days. The mean national occupancy rate is close to 80%.

Cape Verde: UK Entries 2001 - 2006



Economy

In 2006, Cape Verde was considered by the Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation one of the countries with the most economic freedom in Africa, after Botswana, and it ranks among the top 50 in the world. Real economic growth in Cape Verde has been an average of six percent over the past few years. The political stability of the country, the absence of exchange-rate risk (CVE pegged to the Euro), coupled with successful fiscal reforms – in particular the implementation of a VAT system - led to excellent results in the last two years. Strong economic growth is also the result of Cape Verde's impressive economic reforms, which began in the mid-1990s, when the country embarked on a vast privatization program that included utilities companies and the entire banking system.

Cape Verde's economic performance remains strong. The tourism sector is developing rapidly, driven by significant growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) in hotels and other tourism-related construction: through the third quarter of 2006, tourism exports almost doubled and FDI increased by roughly 60 percent compared to the same period of 2005. Further support has come from public investment in infrastructure and better external transportation links. Moreover, business confidence—in the tourism area and in the economy in general—is high.