Abstract
The advent of tourism in certain resort areas has led to sharply rising socio-economic development, sometimes contributing to a change in the local economic structure. Thus, in certain States, as a result of the tourism boom the model of economic production has undergone a radical change. An example of this can be seen in Cape Verde, a country whose economy was characterised, until 15 or 20 years ago, by a predominance of the primary sector and an economy based on cooperation aid from developed countries and by remittances from emigrants. However, in 2007 the World Bank declared Cape Verde a middle-income country. This change was due to the impact of diverse variables, some of a political nature, such as a well-consolidated democratic political system, based on the rule of law, together with excellent legal security and also the country's international outlook, based on very close trade relations with the European Union; other variables were of a commercial nature, and reflected a change in the business model, with a greater focus on the tourism sector and, therefore, on construction.