Africa-Press – Cape verde. Spanish hotel group was responsible for the arrival of around a third of the total number of tourists who visited Cape Verde in 2024. The Spanish hotel chain has six hotels in the country and, according to the Minister of Tourism, has a significant weight in the national economy.
400 thousand guests. Almost a third of the total number of tourists who visited Cape Verde in 2024 stayed in the six hotels that the RIU Group has in the country.
A figure that confirms the Spanish company as the largest tourism operator at a national level.
The Group has “an enormous weight in the national economy if we consider the contribution that tourism has to the GDP”, acknowledges the Minister of Tourism, José Luís Sá Nogueira, in an interview with Expresso das Ilhas.
“If we consider that we had almost 1.2 million tourists in 2024 and the Group almost reached 400 thousand tourists and we do a small calculation, this represents practically more than 7% of the GDP, which demonstrates, in fact, an enormous weight” in the national economy, adds the minister, who was in Sal participating in the Gala of the 20th Anniversary of the RIU Group in Cape Verde.
In addition to the economic contribution to GDP, it is also worth mentioning that, last year alone, the RIU Group paid almost 5 million contos in taxes to the State, as a result of the 26.6 million contos it had in revenues last year.
But, in addition to being the largest tour operator in operation, the company led by Joan Trian is also the largest private employer in the country. In total, 3,378 people work in the six hotel units that the group owns in Sal and Boa Vista.
José Luís Sá Nogueira also highlights the role that the RIU Group has played, over the years, in creating indirect jobs which, he points out, “are significant”.
Over the years, the topic of mass tourism and its benefits/disadvantages has been the subject of several discussions, leading to criticism about the [low] spending by tourists outside of resorts.
Sá Nogueira argues that it was “thanks to mass tourism, thanks to All Inclusive” that Cape Verde “created critical mass and was projected onto the international market”.
“Today, Cape Verde is known as a tourist destination and there is an increasing demand for this destination. The fact that there is investment in resorts and all-inclusive tourism does not mean that it is bad for the country, quite the opposite. It generates direct and indirect jobs, contributes to taxes, and allows new businesses to emerge in terms of connectivity and other types of service provision.”
Tourism growth, social impact and sustainable commitment
During the group’s 20th anniversary gala in Cape Verde, Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva recalled that, in 2005, Cape Verde received 233,538 tourists and that, in 2024, the number exceeded one million visitors.
“A large part of this growth is due to the RIU Group,” said the head of government, highlighting that this path was made through investments, promotion of quality and demands for professional qualifications.
“Growth was achieved through investment, creation of proposals, quality, and required the State to invest in professional qualifications,” said Ulisses Correia e Silva, who also highlighted the role of hotel and tourism schools, which have been attended by many of the young people who now work in hotels across the country.
The social impact was also highlighted, with reference to the tourist tax that has financed social cohesion projects, such as the transformation of the old “shanty town” in Boa Vista, now renamed Bairro da Boa Esperança. “More than R$10 million were invested in housing, sanitation and security thanks to this contribution of R$2.50 per tourist,” highlighted Correia e Silva.
In an interview with Expresso das Ilhas, the Minister of Tourism highlighted the role that the RIU Group’s social and environmental program has played in Cape Verde, and that “it is an example and should be explored in terms of other investments in the tourism sector”.
“The RIU [Group] has a very strong social sustainability program, with support for children, with various actions also linked to environmental aspects, the protection of turtles and, in terms of renewable energy, they are making an extraordinary investment in terms of photovoltaic energy. They already have, here in Sal, an installed capacity of 4 megawatts.”
Proudly Committed
As highlighted by the government, the RIU Group has been implementing the Proudly Committed strategy in Cape Verde and in other countries where it is present, which includes the company’s social projects.
In Sal, specifically, this strategy is most visible in the Children’s Health Solidarity Clinic.
Since it opened in 2023, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, this clinic, located in Chã de Matias, in Sal, has already served a total of 3,030 children on the island, of which 60.8% were between 0 and 5 years old on average.
According to the hotel group, this strategy is “a protransformation process with which the company places sustainability at the center of all its decisions” and aims to ensure that “the impact of its activity is always as positive as possible, both on society and on ecosystems”.
In addition to health, this strategy also has environmental implications, since, in addition to the inauguration of the Children’s Health Solidarity Clinic, in 2023 the RIU Group signed the first public-private agreement with the Ministry of the Environment and, in addition, has actively collaborated with several NGOs linked to the protection of the environment in Sal and Boa Vista, especially with regard to the conservation of the Caretta caretta turtles.
Direct and indirect employment
The numbers are clear. There are more than 3,000 jobs generated directly by the RIU Group in Cape Verde, but, for the Minister of Tourism, the impact goes far beyond this number.
Hotels, José Luís Sá Nogueira points out, “not only do they need jobs to ensure their operation, but they also need maintenance companies in various areas, from air conditioning to refrigeration equipment, and all of these are businesses that are provided by small and medium-sized national companies. If we look closely, even the consumption of national products is increasing significantly. In other words, products are imported because, in fact, the country does not produce everything it needs, but there is a growing awareness on the part of our producers to certify their products, so that they can be purchased by these tourist networks, which have to guarantee food safety, which is very important to avoid causing disruption to our tourist destination”.
Diversify tourism
The diversification of tourism beyond All Inclusive and Sun and Beach is not a forgotten topic, guarantees the minister. However, this change can only be made if associated with mass tourism.
“Beach and sun are the main attractions, there’s no doubt about that”, he explains, guaranteeing that there is also a segment in terms of cultural tourism and historical heritage, mountain and nature tourism, “which we need to explore more. That’s what we are doing at the moment based on the so-called operational tourism plan, which not only diversifies, but also seeks to decentralize. Diversification is achieved through the development of those market niches that I just mentioned and by attracting new ones”.
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From a small hotel to a tourism giant
The RIU company began taking its first steps in the tourism sector when, in 1953, Juan Riu and Maria Bertrán, together with their son Luis Riu Bertrán, acquired the San Francisco hotel in Mallorca, and strengthened its presence in the Balearic Islands thanks to an alliance with TUI (Touristik Union International) in 1977.
In 1985, it opened its first hotel in Gran Canaria, the Riu Palmeras hotel, marking the beginning of its expansion beyond the Balearic Islands. The beginning of international expansion took place in 1991, with the opening of the Riu Taino hotel, in Punta Cana. It was the first of 45 hotels that the group owns on the American continent.
In 2010, RIU embarked on “one of its greatest challenges as a company: the launch of its urban brand Riu Plaza”, opening hotels in key cities around the world, such as New York and Madrid.
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