Cape Verde is being hailed as the Caribbean of Europe as they are the nearest islands to Europe within the tropics.
The pure, warm water one hour south of the Canaries is home to Cape Verde, group of ten largely undiscovered tropical islands. With a year round warm climate, beautiful white sandy beaches, hospitable people and a stable environment, this sleepy hide away offers an opportunity like no other.
Cape Verde is just embarking on a new era of development and the best way to describe it is probably to compare it to the Canary Islands 15 – 20 years ago. Development is now gathering pace with the help of governmental and foreign investment and there are many exciting investment opportunities opening up to potential investors.
Short history: The Cape Verde Islands were uninhabited when discovered by explorers commissioned by the Portuguese Crown in 15th century. Once discovered, these islands were used as stop for supplying stocks for the busy transatlantic shipping routes and at the time, served as one of the many centres around the African continent for the slavery trade. It is this history that fused African, Portuguese, English and French cultures which now gives the Cape Verde islands their distinct and vibrant cultural heritage.
It was in 1975, that the Cape Verdean people were given Independence from Portugal, and after a period of one-party government, the first multi-party elections were held in 1990.
With the country's main economic drivers now firmly identified in the tourism and service sectors, the Cape Verdean Government has big plans for the archipelago in the years to come. The islands have been recognised internationally as a country for growth - the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has rated the Cape Verdean economy as "solid" and the World Bank recently announced that Cape Verde was the Best Managed African Economy of the Year. For more information about these developments, please click here to find out the most recent news from the Islands.
Weather and Climate: With its year round climate, Cape Verde is an ideal holiday destination. On the same latitude as Barbados, it has a perfect tropical dry climate with very little rainfall. There is low humidity and a long dry season from November to July, equally there is no history of hurricanes. The average air temperature is 22-27C and the sea temperature is 21-26C, (3 degrees warmer round than the Canaries) with sunshine levels at 10 to 12 hours per day.
Useful Information: There are no mandatory inoculations required for Cape Verde and visas can be bought on arrival at the airport.
There are private health clinics, dentistry clinics and pharmacies in Cape Verde. There is a good but expensive telecommunications infrastructure which includes broadband. There is also a mobile network which has roaming agreements with most continental European carriers. Though the currency is the Escudo, the Euro is the most widely accepted and easy to use currency. Visa and Mastercard are accepted in most hotels and banks.
Economy: The country is stable socially and politically. All political parties are very keen to attract foreign private investment, particularly in the development of the tourism sector.
The exchange rate of the Cape Verde Escudo is fixed to the Euro (1Euro=110,265CVE). Over the last five years, average annual inflation has been contained below 1.4% while GDP has grown per annum by more than 6%. GDP per capita is approximately US$1,500. The resident population is approximately 450,000.
The UN Development Programme's Human Development Index (2003) places Cape Verde as fourth highest of all African nations behind only the Seychelles, Mauritius and Tunisia; declaring it a middle-income country.
The islands have been recognised internationally as a country for growth - the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has rated the Cape Verdean economy as "solid" and the World Bank recently announced that Cape Verde was the Best Managed African Economy of the Year. Click here for more information on recent tourism announcements from the Islands.
The Economist Intelligence Unit reports - "Since independence there has been no significant incident of civil unrest in Cape Verde, and changes of government have occurred peacefully. The army has never taken an active role in politics. The geographical isolation of the Islands means that conflicts in the West African region have negligible impact. Violent crime is not common."
More information at, https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cv.html