Cape Verde Property Investment News

Green investment in Cape Verde

A growing eco-tourism market should help to boost the fortunes of investment property in Cape Verde, industry commentators have said.

With tourist arrivals to the island growing at a rate of 22 per cent annually, the islands are already a lucrative investment destination and likely to offer some healthy buy-to-let returns.

And as the tourism industry as a whole looks to embrace environmentally-friendly travel, investors in Cape Verde property could benefit, according to Paul Collins, of Buy Association.

"The other thing that's quite interesting over there at the moment is eco-tourism," he explained. "There are a couple of reasonable sized eco-resorts coming out that are sustainable.

"I don't know if they're actually carbon neutral, but they're actually making really big efforts to make sure the environment is looked after. That might be another asset that is looking attractive."

He added that despite its success as a tourist destination, Cape Verde was more likely to appeal to younger investors than those looking for a retirement home.

"It's not particularly coming up as a retirement destination at the moment," Mr Collins explained. "Like most emerging markets, the infrastructure still has to be developed so people need to look at things like where the hospitals and healthcare are and that sort of thing."

One million tourists annually are expected to visit Cape Verde by 2015.