The number of tourists in Cape Verde increased by 52.6% in the first quarter.

In the first quarter of 2023, Cape Verdean hotel establishments welcomed 216,000 guests, up 52.6% from the same period last year, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) said on Tuesday.

Compared to the first quarter of 2019 (pre-pandemic), INE found a 7.5% decrease in guest numbers, from 233,721 to 216,148 guests, according to guest movement statistics.

Tourists who visited the country between January and March spent 1,302,979 overnight stays, up 54.3% from the same period in 2022.

Compared to the first quarter of 2019, the number of overnight stays in the period under review decreased by 7.2%, according to INE.

During the period under review, the main tourist destination in the archipelago continued to be Sal, which accounted for 54.1% of entries into the country’s hotel establishments.

This is followed by Boa Vista with 26.2%, Santiago with 10.3%, San Vicente with 5.1%, and the rest of the islands have a weight of 4.3% in tourist arrivals to the archipelago.

In terms of overnight stays, Sal Island also remained in first place with 57.4%, Boa Vista with 34.9%, Santiago with 3.6% and San Vicente with 2.5%, while the rest of the islands with a weight of 1. 6% in overnight stays.

By type of accommodation establishments, hotels continue to be the most sought after in Cape Verde, accounting for 91.7% of total bookings, followed by residences (3.9%) and boarding houses (2.2%).

By country of usual residence of guests, Cape Verdeans accounted for 4.5% of arrivals and 2.1% of overnight stays.

In the quarter under review, the main outbound market for tourists in Cape Verde was the United Kingdom, which accounted for 25% of the total number of entry to hotel establishments.

Next come Germany (12.0%), the Netherlands. [Bélgica e Holanda] (11.8%), France (9.1%), Sweden (6.3%) and Portugal (5.7%).

In terms of overnight stays, the UK topped the quarter with 30.1% of the total, followed by Germany (12.2%), the Netherlands (13.0%), France (7.1%), Sweden ( 8.4%). ) and Portugal (4.0%).

Between January and March, the average stay of tourists in hotels in Cape Verde was 5.9 nights, up 0.1 percentage point slightly more than in the first quarter of 2022.

Last week in Parliament, Tourism and Transport Minister Carlos Santos highlighted the “profound impact” of COVID-19 on tourism and pointed to “adequate measures” that are helping to boost the sector’s growth rate.

“After the restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic have been overcome, the consequences of which were clearly visible in the figures for 2020 and 2021, we are now registering a recovery and even an acceleration in the growth rate in this sector,” he said. minister.

According to the 2022 Annual Register of Hospitality Establishments released in May by INE, the country had a record supply last year with 15,257 rooms, up 4.2% from 2021, and 28,851 beds, up 19 .4% more.

According to the same document, there were 292 hotel establishments operating in Cape Verde at the end of last year, including hotels, “resorts”, guest houses, guest houses and others, which is 1.4% more than in 2021.

Also, according to the list, at the end of 2022, 9,458 people worked in these hotel establishments, which is compared to 8,400 in the previous year, which is 12.6% more.

Tourism accounts for about 25% of Cape Verde’s gross domestic product and welcomed a record 836,000 tourists in 2022, recovering from the complete closure of the sector following the start of the covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.