Africa-Press – Cape verde. Cape Verde wants more slots at Lisbon Airport, to increase flights from Portugal, the second country from which most tourists travel to the archipelago, the Minister of Tourism told Lusa today.
According to him, the flow could grow even more, if there is room for more flights.
“The operators have been talking about this, indicating that, in the summer, despite there being a greater demand for our destination, there has been a limitation on flights”, due to a lack of spaces at Lisbon airport, lamented the minister.
Airport ‘slots’ or time slots refer to spaces that allow an operator to land and take off from airports.
In an interview with the Lusa agency, Carlos Santos said that the Government has been “in talks” with Portuguese air and tour operators to try to increase the number of vacancies for companies that want to fly from Lisbon to Cape Verde.
Portugal is the second country from which the most tourists leave for Cape Verde, with around 12% of the total, only behind the United Kingdom, with 36.6%.
“We want to attract more and more tourists, diversify the segments that seek the Cape Verdean market and we know that Portugal is a market that still has room to grow”, he stated.
Cape Verde is the international destination invited to the 34th edition of the Lisbon Tourism Exchange (BTL), which runs from Wednesday to Sunday, a “unique opportunity” to promote the country, highlighted the minister.
Carlos Santos revealed that Cape Verde will take a delegation made up of tour and hotel operators, cultural agents and invited the community residing in Lisbon.
More than 900 thousand tourists
The minister also announced that the country broke a new visitor record, with more than 900 thousand tourists, in 2023 and wants to reach one million this year.
“Based on the data we have already received, we ended 2023 with around 900 to 920 thousand tourists. It is a very interesting number, we have already exceeded the 2019 data”, before the covid-19 pandemic crisis, revealed the government official.
The minister justified the data with the “balance” between high season (October to January) and low season (in the northern hemisphere summer), saying that the country is “combating seasonality”.
In recent years, new nationalities have entered the country “with more force”, which is also “probing” Swiss operators, he said.
The numbers revealed to Lusa today surpass those of previous years.
According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), Cape Verde received close to 706,000 tourists in 2022, roughly triple the previous year, recovering from the deep crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2019, before the respiratory infection took over the world, the country was at the level of 800 thousand tourists per year.
The president of the Cape Verde Chamber of Tourism, Jorge Spencer Lima, told Lusa, two weeks ago, that there is a lack of accommodation capacity in the archipelago, a deficiency that also worries the sector’s minister, especially in high season.
“It’s a matter that also concerns us”, because it is necessary to “grow installed capacity and keep up with demand”, he said.
Cape Verde has around 28 thousand beds, half on the island of Sal, the sun and beach destination that welcomes the vast majority of visitors to the archipelago, but there are other projects underway and in preparation to increase accommodation capacity, he added.
Investments are also being made within the framework of the Tourism Operational Program (POT), so that other cities and villages can receive tourists, said Carlos Santos.
Last week, the country launched a new commercial tourist image, in which “sustainability is a key element” for the coming years, he said, also hoping for an “interconnection” with other sectors, such as transport, agriculture, fisheries .
At an international level, the minister told Lusa that the objective is to “consolidate” European markets, responsible for more than 90% of tourists traveling to the archipelago, but also attract visitors from African and American countries, such as Brazil and the United States. United.
Cape Verde is the invited international destination of the 34th edition of the Lisbon Tourism Exchange (BTL), which runs from Wednesday to Sunday, a “unique opportunity” to promote the country, highlighted the minister.
Carlos Santos revealed that Cape Verde will take a delegation made up of tour and hotel operators, cultural agents and invited the community residing in Lisbon.
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