The fee that replaces visas for tourists in Cabo Verde earned over €16 million in 2022

Cape Verde collected more than €16 million in 2022 with the Cape Verdean Airport Security Fee, introduced in 2019 to end mandatory tourist visas, twice as much as expected.

According to data compiled today by Lusa from the report on budget execution from January to December 2022 from the Ministry of Finance, this fee earned the state coffers almost €16.2 million in all of last year.

This is a performance of 201.7% compared to the Esc883.6 million (€7.2 million) included as a forecast in the State Budget for 2022.

The number of tourists in Cape Verde in 2022 exceeded 700,000, about 90% of the record 819,000 in 2019, the Minister of Tourism and Transport, Carlos Santos, revealed at the end of last January.

“From our numbers already received – and not yet confirmed by the National Institute of Statistics [INE] – they may reach 700,000 tourists who have arrived in Cape Verde.”

“This means 90% of what we received in 2019; these are interesting numbers,” Carlos Santos said, hoping the country could surpass the record number of tourists this year.

In the supporting documents to the State Budget proposal for 2023, the government has inscribed the forecast of raising the Airport Security Tax €13.5 million.

This sum will be applied to the State Budget, approximately €7.2 million, and to the operation of the Integrated Border Control System, with almost €6.3 million.

In 2020, according to data from the fourth quarter State Provisional Account report, Cape Verde collected €4.8 million from January to December, with this fee paid by tourists, corresponding to almost 162,300 entries into the country, essentially in the first quarter, before the restrictions to contain covid-19, including the suspension of international flights.

Since the beginning of 2019, citizens of 36 European countries are no longer required to have a short-stay visa to enter Cape Verde, a measure then justified by the government to increase competitiveness in the tourism sector and double the number of tourists visiting the country.

The list includes all countries that are part of the European Union, the United Kingdom, and seven more that are not part of the European bloc, such as Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, and Andorra.

To compensate for the loss of revenue with the visa exemption, the Cape Verdean government created the Airport Security Fee, which also went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019.

This exemption was extended in 2020 to Brazil, Canada, the United States, and Russian citizens.

All foreign citizens landing in Cape Verde or traveling between the islands must pay this fee.

For international flights, the fee is €30 for foreign passengers, collected through an online pre-registration platform.

Cape Verde received a record 819,000 tourists in 2019, a sector that guarantees 25% of the Gross Domestic Product but has been practically at a standstill since March 2020 due to restrictions imposed because of covid-19.

With information from Sapo