Hotel developments boom in Cape Verde as tourist numbers soar

Hotel numbers are mushrooming in Cape Verde, according to new numbers out from The National Statistics Institute (INE) of Cape Verde.

The African archipelago had 178 hotels registered in 2010,and this rose to 195 in 2011 … a rise of 9.6% year-on-year. The country is developing bigger hotels too with the amount of rooms rising 34.1% over the same timeframe.

The islands of Sal and Boa Vista currently house the greatest number of hotel units holding 44.7 percent and 31.1 percent of the total respectively. As a result of the increased tourism, employment in this sector has increased by 27.6 percent between 2010 and 2011 as hotel occupancy reaches 90 percent, according to the government.

Adam Cornwell, managing director of Feltrim International told OPP this week that “Cape Verde is one of the fastest growing tourist markets in the world and inevitably the hotel industry is responding.”

Cornwell thinks that the islands will reach half a million tourists each year by 2015 and one million by 2020 due to its “potential as a mid-haul winter sun destination.” Cape Verde also entered the top ten holiday destinations in a poll created by HomeAway, a holiday rentals website, with Skyscanner listing it as third on its list of emerging holiday destinations in 2011.
Cape Verde was also the fifth most popular holiday destination for bookings between October and December of 2011 “There’s still plenty of room for growth and tourist arrivals continue to increase by around 20% per annum,” adds Cornwell.

http://www.opp.org.uk/news-article.php?id=6406