Open a British newspaper at those times of the year when couples and families are looking to book an Easter break, winter sun, or plan for the summer and you will often read of doom: the travails of Britons abroad in sunny places experiencing everything from minor ailments to, sadly, worse.
Most international travel anywhere is trouble free, though it’s notable that according to a recent survey by YouGov 13 per cent of Britons who travelled abroad between 2022 and 2024 claimed they fell ill during their trip. That’s surely much higher than any of us would experience during travel within our own national borders.
Fortunately, statistics for my own country of Cape Verde – visited by 1.2 million tourists last year of which almost 400,000 are British – are vastly better. Statistics extrapolated from public data from UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) indicates as few as 0.04 per cent of British visitors experience anything at all.
As minister of tourism and transport for these beautiful islands I am not surprised these numbers show Cape Verde in a good light, for recognised health indicators reinforce the same: Cape Verdean average life expectancy at 76 years compares well with the UK at 81 and compares favourably with a number of EU countries including Bulgaria (76 years) and Hungary (76.8 years) – both of which receive around the same number of British tourists as Cape Verde annually.
On international indices such as the US Cornell University’s Global Health Security Index – which score the capacity and robustness of countries’ health systems – Cape Verde scores notably higher than other popular destinations for Britons such as Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt.
Sadly though, the underlying health robustness of a country does not get in the way of a good story, and in recent months Cape Verde has been subject to press reports related to tourists and health on our islands. We are not alone: in only the first few months of this year news stories about British tourists experiencing health issues abroad have covered Turkey, Crete, Dominican Republic and more. Some of this media coverage even appears to be encouraged by legal firms seeking to generate income for themselves off the back of publicised cases.
For large countries such as Greece and Turkey who received around 40 and 50 million tourists respectively last year, negative publicity relating to a single resort or a single small number of individual cases will not affect your tourism industry. It certainly won’t affect your economy as a whole with its wide spectrum of other sectors.
When, like Cape Verde, you are a small island with a population of 500,000 reliant on income from tourism, then publicity generated with the intention to shock but which does not include balance through the inclusion of wider facts becomes as unjust as it is unfair.
In a world full of noise and information, the facts, context, and balance are more important than ever and need to be distinguished from public relations campaigns – though it is sometimes difficult to tell one from the other.
My best advice to tourists seeking to travel anywhere outside of the British Isles is threefold.
First, when you are doing your research, try to separate any negative news report you find about your chosen destination into different categories: those which simply report on an unfortunate incident that may have happened, and those which appear to be generated for the purpose of raising a claim – which tend to be anything but balanced. All countries in the world – even the most stable and safe – experience bad publicity. The key is to understand whether media coverage is made for a purpose other than simply to report news of an event.
Second, take simple and sensible precautions on holiday. General health measures as outlined by the UKHSA including washing and sanitising hands regularly, avoiding too much time in the sun without applying the correct protection, and staying hydrated are all important to follow wherever you travel.
Third, try somewhere fresh and outside of traditional EU destinations such as Spain and France. Increasingly British tourists are travelling far beyond Europe to places in Africa, Asia, and sun and beach destinations such as Cape Verde. Travelling outside of Europe need not break the bank – indeed you may find that your money goes further in my country than in many others you may think to visit. I invite you to come and feel the rhythm of our morabeza – the unique spirit and attitude towards life of the Cape Verdean people.
Dr José Luis Sá Nogueira is minister of tourism and transport for the Republic of Cape Verde