Hotel establishments in the archipelago set a record last year, surpassing a total of one million guests.
The Cape Verdean government has set a goal for this year to welcome 1.2 million tourists, maintaining the figure of 1 million guests recorded last year.
“After reaching the milestone of one million tourists in 2023, the prospects are to anticipate the target set for 2026, that is, to reach 1.2 million tourists already this year,” stated Carlos Santos, Minister of Tourism and Transport of Cape Verde.
In 2023, local media reported, the hotel establishments in the archipelago broke the record for visits, surpassing the total of one million: the year closed with 1,010,739 guests, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The numbers also exceed pre-pandemic statistics: “Compared to the year 2019, there was a growth of 23.4% in the number of guests.”
The government and private institutions anticipate that the sector (which represents a quarter of Cape Verde’s Gross Domestic Product) will continue to grow, partly driven by the launch of low-cost airline flights in October to the island of Sal – which concentrates the vast majority of the archipelago’s tourist activities.