Cape Verde had a record 835,945 tourists in 2022

By Adnardo Barros

Cape Verdean hotels received a record 835,945 tourists in 2022, almost 31% of which were from the UK, and more than four million overnight stays, according to data announced by the country’s National Institute of Statistics (INE).

According to the report of Guest Movement in Cape Verde in 2022, the number of guests exceeded the data of 2019, that was 819,308 tourists, before the Covid-19 pandemic, and still grew 394% compared to 169,068 tourists in 2021.

As for overnight stays, the record remains in 2019, with 5,117,403.

The 4,088,412 overnight stays in 2022 represented an increase of 387% compared to 2021 but still below that of 2016 (4,092,551 overnight stays).

The analysis by type of establishment indicates that hotels remain the most sought-after, accounting for 94% of total arrivals, followed by residential (2.6%), guest houses (1.6%), and apartment hotels (1%).

The Island of Sal, the most touristy in Cape Verde, continued to lead the demand, with 61.8% of total arrivals, followed by Boa Vista with 21.0% and Santiago with 9.3%.

The main source of tourists to Cape Verde in 2022 was the United Kingdom with 258,422, equivalent to 30.9% of total arrivals, followed by Germany with 11.5%, the Netherlands with 10.5%, Portugal with 10.5%, and France with 5.6%.

The total number of Cape Verdeans seeking hotel units in Cape Verde last year also represented 5.6% of the total, totaling 46,647 people.

For 2022, due to the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine, namely the escalating prices, the government lowered in June the growth forecast from 6% to 4%, which, in the meantime, was revised again to over 8% and already at the end of the year to 10% to 15%, as reported by Lusa.

With information from Forbes