Revenue from fees to replace tourist visas was eight times lower than in Cape Verde – Economy

According to the 2021 Budget Implementation Report issued by the Ministry of Finance, these fees were supposed to have resulted in the state of Cape Verde, as included in the budget, about 703 million escudos (6.3 million euros).

The amount implemented from the proceeds of this fee, 84.5 million escudos (765 thousand euros), was used entirely to finance the integrated border control system in Cape Verde.

According to the documents in support of the State Budget Act 2022, Cape Verde expects to collect 883,630,904 escudos (8,025 million euros) from this revenue this year.

In 2020, according to data from the State’s Provisional Account Report for the fourth quarter, Cape Verde collected 551,782,300 escudos (€4.9 million) from January to December, with this fee paid by tourists, corresponding to approximately 162,300 entries. In the country, mainly in the first quarter, before restrictions to contain Covid-19, including the suspension of international flights.

In the state budget for 2020, approved in December 2019, before the pandemic, the government planned to raise 2099 million escudos (19 million euros) for the whole of 2020 at this rate. The amount collected in 2020 from airport security fees is therefore 73.8% lower than what was expected by the government before the pandemic.

Since the beginning of 2019, citizens of 36 European countries are no longer required to obtain a short-stay visa to enter Cape Verde, a measure that was then justified by the government with the intention of increasing competitiveness in the tourism sector and doubling the number of tourists visiting Cape Verde, visiting the country. The list includes all the countries that make up the European Union, the United Kingdom and seven other countries that are not part of the European bloc, such as Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Andorra.

To compensate for the loss of income from visa waiver, the Cape Verdean government established an airport security fee, which also came into effect on January 1, 2019.

This exemption was extended in 2020 to citizens of Brazil, Canada, the United States and Russia.

All foreign nationals disembarking in Cape Verde or traveling between islands must pay this fee.

For international flights, the fee is 3,400 Cape Verdean escudos (about 30.86 euros) for foreign travelers, which is collected through the online pre-registration platform.

Cabo Verde received a record 819,000 tourists in 2019, a sector that accounts for 25% of GDP, but has been practically halted since March 2020 due to restrictions imposed by COVID-19.

The Cape Verdean government expects that the number of tourist arrivals to the archipelago this year will increase between 100% and 150% compared to 2021, citing 600 to 750,000, approaching the figures for 2018, the year the country arrived. 765 thousand tourists.

In 2020, in the first year of the epidemic, Cape Verde experienced a historic drop in tourist arrivals by 75%, which equates to about 600,000 fewer tourists.

PVJ // VM

Lusa / end