Africa-Press – Cape verde. With the approach of the high season for tourism in Santo Antão, tour guides are once again warning of the poor condition of several trails and tourist routes. According to professionals, more than half of the paths need intervention, in order to guarantee the safety of tourists.
The president of the Association of Tourist Guides of Santo Antão, Odair Gomes, told Inforpress that, in addition to the situation of tourist routes, which need recovery works, the class is also concerned about the situation of sanitation in several rural communities.
The concern of tourist guides comes at a time when tour operators are preparing for the high season of tourism in Santo Antão, which begins in October and lasts until May, during which the island receives “thousands” of tourists to, above all, practice trekking (walking on trails).
The president of the Association of Tourist Guides of Santo Antão had alerted, at the beginning of this month of August, to the need to carry out interventions in “more than half” of the vicinal roads for a better safety of the tourists.
This official said that, in addition to the recovery of tourist itineraries, the competent authorities also need to act in terms of sanitation (removal of solid waste) in the island’s tourist communities.
Network of signposted walking trails
At the moment, the network of pedestrian trails in Santo Antão is being signaled by the consortium made up of the companies PATH – Portugal Active Tourism in Holidays and Letras Encantadas Estudos e Projetos, within the scope of a project financed by the World Bank.
This project is coordinated by the Ministry of Finance, through the Special Projects Management Unit, in conjunction with the Ministry of Tourism and Transport/Instituto de Turismo de Cabo Verde.
The Government announced, in mid-2022, the rehabilitation of 82 side roads in Santo Antão, covering a length of 294 kilometres, as part of a programme, budgeted at PTE 210 thousand, interventions that have yet to start.
Santo Antão has an extensive network of paths, built in the colonial era, which has already been classified and marked, forming seven tourist routes created within the scope of the Network for the Promotion of Sustainable and Inclusive Tourism on this island (Raízes).
For More News And Analysis About Cape verde Follow Africa-Press
