CAPE VERDE: The African Islands That Many Worldwide Want To Discover

Cape Verde has seen the biggest surge in Google searches worldwide over 12 years

As a holiday destination, Cape Verde has plenty to recommend it.

It’s a year-round sun spot with alluring beaches, volcanic hiking routes, and a lively music scene, not to mention direct flights from the UK at under six hours, and no time difference, so no jet lag to contend with.

These draws would appear to be common knowledge. Indeed, it seems that just about everyone is searching for it online.

According to the Global Travel Search Index, which ranks the holiday destinations that have shown the greatest increase in Google search interest over the past 12 years, Cape Verde takes the top spot, with a spike of more than 3,000 per cent since 2004.

Earlier this year the islands were named the second most searched-for spot on Earth for Britons, sandwiched between the perennial city break favourites of Barcelona and Amsterdam.

Not that all those searches are translating into visits. The latest stats on tourism reveal that the Atlantic archipelago covering around 1,500 square miles, only welcomed 644,000 tourists in 2016.

By comparison Tenerife, covering 785 square miles, had 5.7 million tourists that year.

True Luxury Travel, which assembled the Global Travel Search Index, found that Cape Verde had the biggest increase in Google searches since 2004 worldwide, looking at 2017 alone, it came in second, after Barcelona.

To accurately assess rises and falls in annual searches, Google Trends issues various geographical locations with a score based on the overall volume in searches, taking into account how many people have been using Google over time.

In 2004, Cape Verde’s score was 23, but by 2016, it was 713 – a 3,000 per cent rise. It was followed by the United Arab Emirates - a 681 per cent spike over 12 years, the Philippines - a 276 per cent rise, Pakistan - a 162 per cent rise and Nigeria - a 145 per cent rise.

Which destinations saw the biggest drop in Google searches?

Libya saw the most dramatic dip in search interest for holidays there - an 88.8 per cent drop over 12 years, for obvious reasons, having descended into civil war six years ago.

The Foreign Office continues to advise against all travel there, and Tripoli’s International Airport has been closed since 2014.

After Libya it was Tunisia - a 88.1 per cent drop, Paraguay - down 86 per cent, Somalia - a 85.9 per cent drop and Iraq - a 88.5 per cent fall.

Have visitor numbers in Cape Verde actually been climbing?

Yes, just not quite so dramatically. Cape Verde welcomed 644,000 tourists in 2016, a 13.6 per cent rise from the previous year.

Henry Morley, Founder of True Luxury Travel, says: A key reason for the increase in search volume for Cape Verde is due to much greater accessibility to the islands.

Recent years have seen greater availability of direct flights from the UK which will have brought the country to the forefront of people’s minds as a potential holiday destination.

Airports have been opening on all Cape Verde’s inhabited islands, the newest international hub being Cesária Évora Airport in late 2009.

Morley added: We found similar patterns with other destinations, with greater flight accessibility to south-east Asia and India from the UK making these once far-flung locations easier to visit.

Oman and Cambodia are two destinations which have experienced a huge influx in recent years and we have seen that reflected in a surge in recent bookings.

A visitor to Sal in Cape Verde this year, predicts its popularity will continue to increase. Its main selling points are that it’s a six-hour direct flight from the UK, with little or no time difference, and better guaranteed year round sunshine than the Canaries.

But it’s much cheaper and closer than the Caribbean.

Sal does have its disadvantages. It can be very windy for extended parts of the year, though this makes it a big kite-surfing destination, it’s very arid and doesn’t have a great deal in the way of culture or cuisine.

It also traditionally attracts an older demographic but I think this will change, with resorts and clubs opening that make it a cheaper alternative for those that flock to in the likes of Mykonos, Marbella and Ibiza.

Some regions are dry and arid, others lush and mountainous.

A visitor to cape Verde five years ago says flights were all full because one of only two planes serving the islands had broken down.

There was very little to do on the main tourist islands, Sal and Boa Vista, apart from park yourself on the beach and maybe try some watersports.

He was taken on a minibus tour of the highlights of Sal, including a fly ridden rock arch and cave, a down-at-heel fish market and a desert mirage.

Still, the islands do what they on the tin, he concludes, singling out Sao Vicente for music, Santao Antao for food, and Santiago for hiking.

If you want clear blue skies, a burst of intense winter heat, perfect white sand and tepid ocean, they’re all great in Cape Verde.

How can you get to cape verde?

Thomson Airways flies to the island of Sal from Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Gatwick and Manchester and to its neighbour Boa Vista from Birmingham, Gatwick and Manchester.

Thomson Cook Airlines follows suit, touching down on Sal from Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham, and on Boa Vista from Birmingham. Each of these services takes six hours or thereabouts.

Portugal’s national carrier TAP is a further option, serving Sal and Boa Vista, plus sibling islands Santiago and Sao Vicente from Lisbon. It offers UK connections to London City, Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester.

The fastest growing tourist destinations in terms of visitor numbers:

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Sierra Leone tops the list.

The little West African nation welcomed 310 per cent more overseas arrivals in 2016, compared with the previous year, a steep rise that was no doubt helped by the country being declared Ebola-free in November 2015.

Just 24,000 people visited Sierra Leone in 2015; but UNWTO last reported estimated numbers of 74,400 for 2016. This is a recent spike.

In terms of the Global Travel Index’s 12 year data, however, Seirra Leone doesn’t even feature in the top 25 countries with the most dramatic rise in online interest.

Next on UNWTO’s list of fastest growing destinations was Nepal, which saw a 39.7 per cent uptick of visitors than the previous year, almost neck-and-neck with Iceland, which saw a 39 per cent spike.

Iceland was voted the 17th best country in the world by readers in the Telegraph Travel Awards 2017, up four spots from its position in the 2016 rankings.


Tourism Observer

UNITED KINGDOM: Foreign Office Warns UK Tourists About Sexual Attacks And Robberies In Cape Verde

Parts of Cape Verde have been hit with a crime wave as tourists have been attacked and mugged.

The Foreign Office is also advising tourists about an increase in burglaries on the two most popular holiday island destinations of Sal and Boa Vista.

The islands off the coast of Africa are being touted as a “safe” destination by tour operators.

But UK tourists are being warned they face violent muggers or sexual predators and holidaymakers are being told to ‘remain alert at all times’.

UK tourists are being warned about visiting top new holiday destination Cape Verde after a several robberies and sexual attacks.

The islands are also very popular with honeymooners but latest UK NHS Health advice says it has “high risk” of Zika and is warning couples not to get pregnant during their visit or for TWO months afterwards.

The holiday destination has become the centre of a crime wave with tourists being attacked and mugged leading to the Foreign Office to put out a warning.

Inspite of the publicity given about Cape Verde by tour operators,it is still a poor country with visible poverty all round.

Tourists, with all their money and high value gadgets are seen as easy prey. There are a string of dangers lying in wait.

As well as sex attacks the Foreign Office is also advising tourists about an increase in burglaries on the two most popular holiday island destinations of Sal and Boa Vista, which are promoted as safe destinations by tour operators for families and couples as tourists flee traditional European destinations such as France and Greece for fear of terrorism.

Instead of facing a terror attacks, tourists could face violent robberies or rape and official advice to UK citizens is to remain alert at all times.

Cape Verde hotels have also suffered from food poisoning and illness such as Salmonella; which can leave people with life-long complications.

We have seen a rise in couples falling ill and also honeymooners. Just because it looks great on the brochure doesn’t mean it will always live up to this in reality.

Latest figures from the National Statistics Institute revealed Cape Verde has become popular with Britons.

The majority of tourists visiting the islands are now from the UK and the islands saw a 13.6 rise in visitor numbers in 2016 compared to the previous year.

But with this new found popularity comes a dark underbelly and the Foreign Office has updated its travel advice pages to reflect this ongoing crime wave on the Archipelago.

There has been a significant increase in crime in Praia, as well as an increase in burglaries and violent muggings on the main tourist islands of Sal and Boa Vista.”

The pages also warned of spate of sexual assaults and warned tourists to “take precautions" when walking on the popular tourist beaches of Prai De Estoril , Prai de Chaves and Santa Monica.

In 2007 the dunes on the popular island of Sal were the site of a horrific double rape and murder of two Italian female tourists.

They were raped and killed by two local men.

The Foreign Office is also warning tourists to avoid gangs of children without adults who are known to be pickpockets and purse snatchers and to be wary of buying property as many Britons had run into “serious problems.”

That perfect getaway may quickly turn out to be a holiday from hell. Always check with the Foreign Office website and your tour operator before you travel. If you do get in trouble contact the nearest Embassy.

Boa Vista

Boa Vista is Portuguese meaning “good view”. This is the easternmost island of Cape Verde. It is located in the Barlavento group of the archipelago.

The island is known for marine turtles and traditional music, as well as its ultramarathon and its sand dunes and beaches. The island also constitutes the municipality of Boa Vista, which has two parishes, Santa Isabel and Sao Joao Baptista.

With an area of 620 square kilometres (240 square miles), it is the third largest island, after Santo Antao and Santiago. It is 455 kilometres (283 miles) west of the coast of Africa. Much of the island is flat. The highest point on the island is Monte Estancia, elevation 387 metres (1,270 feet); other mountains include Santo António (Saint Anthony), Rocha Estância, Monte Negro (Black Mountain), Monte Caçador, Pico Forcado and Monte Vigia.

Other features include Campo da Serra. Its main town is Sal Rei, its ferry port and home to Boa Vista's airport (Rabil Airport)on the northwest side of the island.

Surrounding islets include Ilheu de Sal Rei featuring a lighthouse in the west, others include Ilhéu de Curral Velho in the south and Ilheu do Baluarte featuring the easternmost point in Cape Verde, they are one of five islands that have a surrounding islet or more in Cape Verde. Points include Ponta Antonia to the north as well as Ponta do Sol and Ponta Varandinha, the island's westernmost point.

The island has the most number of long beaches in the nation but not overall, they include Atalanta, Cabral, Chave, Ervatao, Gatas, Santa Monica and Varandinha.

Its economy was originally based on agriculture, but desertification led to salt collection becoming more important. Its main industries today are date farming and, increasingly, tourism, with already several touristic establishments being built in recent times. As of July 2015, the island boasts the highest income per capita [i.e., US$8819,00] in the island nation.

Boa Vista has a college (colegio), a middle school, high school, churches, beaches, large hotels and a port which underwent expansion in the early to mid 2010s. Other hotels and villas had popped up in the west and south of the island, hotels and villas popped up in around 2004 west of Rabil and in 2009 in Curral Velho and connected them with newly paved roads.

Sal Island

Sal,Portuguese for salt from the mines at Pedra de Lume, is an island in Cape Verde. It belongs to the northern group of islands, called Barlavento or windwards, and comprises a single administrative division, the Sal municipality. The island is home to Amílcar Cabral International Airport, the main airport of Cape Verde.

The island was discovered on December 3, 1460 and named Llana until salt deposits were found at the end of the 18th century in Pedra de Lume. In the early years, slaves grazed parts of the island, in the 17th century, free settlers took salt. Sal is the geologically oldest island in Cape Verde, formed 50 million years ago during the eruption of a volcano which is now inactive.

Salt activity was not active until 1800. Sal at the time was the leastly populated island in Cape Verde, once had around or the same as Santa Luzia. Santa Maria was founded in the south in 1835 by Manuel António Martins who became governor and became the island capital, the salt industry thrived, in its early years 30,000 tons of salt were exported.

Most of the salt was exported to Brazil until its nationalization in 1887, Portuguese and French salt investors resumed salt production until 1984. Three lighthouses were constructed at the island's extreme points in the 1880s.

An airport first constructed by Italy started construction in 1939 to receive flights to Europe and South America, construction was halted in around 1940 during World War II and continuation ceased, the Portuguese bought the airport from the Italians and finished the rest in 1949, planes from Italy would offer a stopover flight for refueling planes for flights with South American cities.

Northeast of the airport, workers from Sao Nicolau Island to the west would settle a village and was named Preguiça, where the first settlers originated and the youngest urban center in Cape Verde, Palmeira was later founded and became the island's other port, not long after it became Espargos due to the asparagus plants founded there and became the main island capital as well as a commercial center, a part of the population growth even to the present continue to arrive from Sao Nicolau.

Unlike other parts of Cape Verde, famine did not devastate the island as the population was only about 500 in 1930 and one of some islands up to 1970 that the population continued to grow. Farmlands were established around 2 km northwest of Espargos in the mid 20th century.

A new solar electricity station was established in around 2010 and located 1.5 km north of Santa Maria on the main road, the first and only in Cape Verde. A large growing population has now led to the division of the municipality, it was first plan on April 7, 2014, no date of the separation has been set.

It would form the municipalities of Espargos and Santa Maria, the municipal boundary would be marked north of Ilheu Rabe de Junco, north of Murdeira and south of the airport, probably in the east-west line, also Nossa Senhora das Dores will exclude Santa Maria.

Hurricane Fred struck the island of Sal in late summer 2015, the hardest was on August 31, in Santa Maria, his storm surge sunk or stranded dozens of vessels and destroyed an important tourist pier.

Hotels, restaurants, and other beach facilities were flooded, and roads in the town became impassable. High winds leveled the roof of a sport center at a gymnasium which had initially been set up as a storm shelter to about 100 citizens. Elsewhere, the hurricane knocked out power to homes in Palmeira and caused minor structural damage to Sal International Airport.

Sal’s main town, Cidade dos Espargos, is home to one of the nation’s international airports and has around 32,000 inhabitants. Its population grew around salt collection and later shifted to fishing, but is now based on tourism,amounting to 50% of the archipelago’s tourism at the beach resort of Santa Maria. The living standards on the island is among the best in the Cape Verde archipelago. The island's GDP per capita is roughly US$7068,00.

Its airport, Amílcar Cabral International Airport, was used as a refuelling base by South African Airways on its Johannesburg to London routes. This was necessitated by the refusal of Black African states to the North to grant overflying permission and direct routing to and from Europe during apartheid.

Later, flights to and from New York and Atlanta also refuelled there, and the island was a crew-change station. SAA established the long runways needed by the fully fueled Boeing 747s on their take-offs in the high temperatures. On July 1, 2006, SAA operated its final flight to Sal due to the ending of its flights to Atlanta.

Saline marshes can be found in the Pedra de Lume crater and north of Santa Maria.

FRANCE: Air Méditerranée Proposes Dakar, Cape Verde And The Canaries

Air Méditerranée launches this winter 2015-2016 new routes to Dakar in Senegal (from Marseille), Boa Vista and Sal in Cape Verde (from Nantes and Paris-Charles de Gaulle) and Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

Air Méditerranée launches this winter the Marseille-Dakar line, it will operate at the same time in regular service since the company holds the traffic rights on Dakar and tourist flights on behalf of its customers tour operators or agencies travel. From December 18, 2015 to May 6, 2015, regular flights posted on its website and operated by Boeing 737-500 configured for 131 passengers, will depart once a week (Friday) at 12:15 pm for an arrival at 16h50 (5h35 flight) The return flights starting again at 17:40 Dakar for an arrival at 0:15 the next day in Marseille.

Other leisure destinations are winter program. Thus, from December 18, 2015 to May 27, 2016, Air Méditerranée settles in Cape Ver t opening on behalf of its major customers two new destinations tower operators to Boa Vista and Sal, every Friday, from Paris-CDG Nantes-Atlantique.

Las Palmas with Air Méditerranée finally strengthens serving the Canary she launched last year, co-charter for eight major French and European tour operators: FRAM, FTI, Karavel, Look Voyages, Thalasso No. 1 Thomas Cook, TUI France and Voyamar. Winter 2015/2016 edition of the Canary program is enriched by destination Las Palmas from Lyon, Nantes and Paris, which adds to Lanzarote from Paris-CDG, Bordeaux Brest, Deauville, Lyon, Marseille, Metz, Nantes, Toulouse and Fuerteventura from Paris-CDG, Marseille, Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Toulouse.