Challenges and Opportunities for Island Tourist Destinations: The Case of the Island of Sal, Cape Verde

The Tourism Area Life Cycle destination goes through different phases from its exploration until its decline or rejuvenation. The knowledge about these different phases allows the improvement of investment decisions by the private sector or by the government, in a context of challenges and opportunities. The main objective of this study was to verify in which phase the Island of Sal and Cape Verde were at an individual and competitive level during the period 2010–2018, considering the Tourism Development Index (TDI). To calculate the TDI, destinations with the same ‘sun and beach’ market were chosen, such as the Dominican Republic, Morocco, Tunisia and the Canary Islands, because they compete for the same European market and their geographical proximity to this market; data from government and non-government sources were used. It was concluded that the Island of Sal is in the Development phase, the same phase as that of Cape Verde. As for competitiveness, they are in the exploration and stagnation phase, both needing to increase the TDI to 48% and 43%, respectively to reach the involvement phase. For the calculation of the TDI, data from Cape Verde can be used to analyse the Sal Island index and vice versa. Strategic policies must be considered in the long term, incorporating information on the relative positions of direct competitors and unexpected events such as COVID 19, which can be seen as an opportunity to diversify the offer, create new segments and discover new inbound markets.