Cape Verde – can it benefit touristically from the World Cup success of its national football team?

At the FIFA World Cup currently taking place in North America the exploits of the national football team from Cape Verde (Cabo Verde) - an archipelago of only half a million people in the North Atlantic and the second smallest nation taking part, after Curaçao - have captivated not only regular supporters of 'the Beautiful Game', but also those that tuned in casually on the advice of the team's playing style, courage and tenacity.

That they won many hearts is indisputable.

Now the question is whether Cape Verde can replicate Croatia (2018) and Morocco (2022) in converting World Cup competition success into tourist receipts.

Early indications are that they can, with online searches for vacations there increasing by 5000% in a matter of days.

Cape Verde is already a popular destination for Europeans, especially, and those that have already visited and become regular tourists there will know that the existing infrastructure is more than adequate. Especially at the top end of the accommodation scale, which is where new visitors from North America, for example, would want to be. Moreover, there is a pipeline of existing and new real estate investors standing by to pump more money still into the country.

But there are problems.

The airports are more than adequate and the concessionaire VINCI Airports is pumping money into them.

But the national airline is not presently capable of handling a sudden new rush of demand. That would have to be by the existing low cost and charter airlines in Europe, and by new airlines from the Americas, and possibly elsewhere.

Medical services need much improvement. Meanwhile, there has been a notable increase in petty crime, although it seems to have stabilised, at the moment.

Already the Cape Verde authorities are plying big business in the US and elsewhere for investment, not only into tourism, but also into logistics, energy and other areas. It might be argued, though, that they need to move swiftly to get the basics right first.

The 'Hand of God' - an expression forever linked in the mind of English football supporters to the World Cup - has dealt Cape Verde an unexpected full flush of cards, and none of them are red. How will the country rise to the challenge?