Cabo Verde was visited in 2019 by more than 819,000 tourists, an increase of 7.0% compared with 2018, the year in which the archipelago received more than 765,600 tourists the country’s National Statistical Institute (INE) said in the capital, Praia.
INE also said overnight stays exceeded 5.1 million, compared with 4.9 million in 2018, an that the on year rise was 3.7%.
The United Kingdom was the main country of origin of tourists, and its citizens spent stayed in Cabo Verde the longest, with an average stay of 8.1 nights.
Sal Island was the most popular for tourists, accounting for approximately 45.5% of entries in hotel establishments, followed by the island of Boa Vista, with 29.4% and 11.7% for Santiago.
The President of the Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies of Cabo Verde (AAVTCV) said he agreed with the government’s decision to suspend flights to Italy because of Covid-19, but admitted that this would affect the accounts of AAVTCV associate companies.
Mário Sanches said that there were seven weekly flights between Italy and Cabo Verde, which is one of the largest markets sources of tourists for destinations such as Sal and Boa Vista. There are even some hotels on Sal Island that work mainly with Italian tourists, according to the Inforpress news agency.
Source: Macauhub