The goal is set out in an 8 January resolution of the council of ministers, which comes into force within a month, extending the list of countries whose citizens are exempt from visas for stays of up to 30 days in Cabo Verde.

The document anticipates the beginning of scheduled flights by Cabo Verde Airlines (CVA) to Toronto, and justifies the decision for the other visa exemptions with the flights that the airline already makes to Brazil and the US, through the hub installed on the island of Sal.

The Brazilians are the passengers who most use the air hub as a transit point to Europe, and it is expected that with the opening of direct flights to Washington DC [since December] and Toronto, in addition to those already existing to Boston, the same will happen to citizens from Canada and the US.

Even so, it is recognised that the national tourism market has not been able to capture this segment of transit travellers, who pass through the Sal hub - a total of 10,100 passengers transported per week by CVA in December - despite coming from important tourist issuing markets to other destinations, namely Europe and/or the African continent itself.

To reverse this scenario, the government admits that the CVA stopover programme, which allows a stopover in Cabo Verde between flights is a way to capture that segment of travellers.

The government of Cabo Verde has the goal of reaching one million annual tourists from 2021.

The UK, Portugal, France, Germany and Italy currently represent the bulk of foreign tourists in Cabo Verde.

Citizens of 36 European countries have since the beginning of 2019 ceased to be required to have a short-stay visa to enter Cabo Verde, a measure then justified by the government to increase competitiveness in the tourism sector and double the number of tourists visiting the country, which is around 750,000 per year.

To compensate the loss of revenue with the visa exemption, the Cape Verdean government created an Airport Security Fee (TSA), which also came into force on 1 January 2019 and will be extended to citizens of Brazil, Canada and the US in February.

All foreign citizens who disembark in Cabo Verde or are travelling between the islands, and Cape Verdeans, will have to pay the fee when travelling between islands.

The TSA costs, on domestic flights, 150 Cabo Verde Escudos (about €1.36) to all passengers (domestic and foreign), which are charged at the time of ticketing.

For international flights, the fee is 3,400 escudos (about €30.86) for foreign passengers, charged through an online pre-registration platform.

According to data from the International Monetary Fund, tourism-related activities represent 25% of Cabo Verde's GDP and 50% of the country's export revenues.