Cape Verde expects to have received some 320,000 tourists by the end of this year, according to statements made Saturday by the president of tourism and investment promotion agency Cabo Verde Investimentos, Victor Fidalgo, who spoke at a press conference on his participation in the Lisbon Real Estate Salon. Fidalgo is confident that the number of visitors to the country will approach the half-million mark by 2011 or 2012.

The president of Cabo Verde Investimentos spoke of the major investments the country is expecting to see in the near future, among them Paradise Beach, Murdeira Beach and the controversial Pedra de Lume project, all of which lead Victor Fidalgo to believe that Cape Verde is “at the top of the list of preferences and that its rating is going up all over the world.”

Cape Verde will participate in the London World Tourism Meeting between November 12 and 15. In December, Cape Verde will be represented at another real estate fair, also in London.

When asked about the situation of the Cape Verdean business community, which is also calling for a place in the sun, Fidalgo admitted that Cabo Verde Investimentos pays the local business community “little attention,” but “not because of our own will, but for institutional reasons.”

According to Fidalgo, Cape Verde’s tax policy does not favor Cape Verdean entrepreneurs. In addition, Cape Verdean entrepreneurs themselves “prefer to invest in other things and not in something that’s going to bring them profits in four or five years, which makes it difficult for them to accompany the rhythm of the country, which is requiring more and more from all involved.” “We’ve done as much as possible, encouraging them to take risks,” he added.

Source: A Semana