The Portuguese were the foreigners that most visited Cape Verde in the first half of 2007, accounting for 18.6 percent of the total number of tourists, according to figures published in Praia by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

According to a survey on visitors to the archipelago’s accommodation, in the first six months of last year, 156,215 tourists stayed at Cape Verde’s hotels, or 15.5 percent more than in the same period of 2006.

Of the total number of tourists, according o INE, 88 percent were foreign, and most of them were from Portugal and Italy.

Italians accounted for 16.8 percent of the total, whilst 14.1 percent of tourists were British and 10.9 percent were German.

Sal Island, which usually welcomes the highest number of tourists continued to be preferred by visitors in the first half of last year, with 61 percent of entries into the country and 72 percent of overnight stays.

After Sal, the most visited islands were Santiago and Sao Vicente, with 18.5 percent and 8.3 percent of entries, respectively.

Source: Macauhub