On July 4th, in the Round of 32 of the U.S., Canada and Mexico World Cup, the West African island nation of Cabo Verde narrowly lost 2-3 to defending champion Argentina. The dramatic performance of this "African dark horse," with a population of only 500,000, dragging the title favorites into extra time quickly went viral across global social media. The tournament's effect was immediately transmitted to the tourism market.

Data from the Tongcheng Travel platform shows that within 24 hours after the match on July 4th, search interest for Cabo Verde as a destination surged by more than 200% week-on-week, with users from Shanghai, Guangzhou,  Beijing, and Shandong showing the highest concentration of interest. Also climbing simultaneously was the volume of inquiries for customized tours to West Africa, among which "Cabo Verde + Lisbon" multi-destination packages and Cabo Verde island-hopping tours saw rapid growth in consultations.

Meanwhile, the Qunar travel index indicates that the news drove a sharp surge in flight searches to Cabo Verde. As of 8:00 a.m. on July 4th, searches for flights to Praia, the capital of Cabo Verde, had skyrocketed by nearly 30 times compared to the previous week. Flights departing from Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou saw the highest search interest, with searches for the Guangzhou-Praia route experiencing a staggering 184-fold increase week-on-week.

From the perspective of the global tourist source structure, nearly 90% of Cabo Verde's visitors come from Western Europe; for the Chinese market, it remains an "untapped island" that has yet to see large-scale development. It is worth noting that Cabo Verde's home venue for its World Cup qualifiers—the Praia National Stadium—was built with Chinese aid. Local media coverage has credited this assistance with helping them realize their World Cup dream, leaving a "Made in China" footnote behind the story of this dark horse.

“黑马”佛得角引爆旅游热潮

7月4日，美加墨世界杯1/16决赛中，西非岛国佛得角以2-3惜败卫冕冠军阿根廷。这支全国人口仅50万的“非洲黑马”将夺冠热门拖入加时赛的戏剧性表现，迅速刷屏全球社交媒体，赛事效应即时传导至旅游市场。

同程旅行平台数据显示，7月4日赛后24小时内，佛得角目的地搜索热度周环比超过200%，上海、广州、北京、山东等地用户搜索热情最为集中。同步攀升的还有西非方向定制游咨询量，其中“佛得角+里斯本”连线产品及佛得角跳岛游咨询量增长较快。

与此同时，去哪儿旅行指数显示，消息带动赴佛得角机票搜索量猛增。截至7月4日早8点，飞往佛得角首都普拉亚的机票搜索量同比上周暴增近30倍，北京、上海、广州出发的航班搜索热度最高，其中广州-普拉亚航线搜索量同比上周激增184倍。

从全球客源结构看，佛得角近九成游客来自西欧，对中国市场而言仍属尚未大规模开发的“空白岛”。值得一提的是，佛得角此次世预赛主场——普拉亚国家体育场由中国援建，当地媒体曾以“感谢中国帮我们圆了世界杯梦”为题报道，这匹黑马故事背后亦留下中国制造注脚。

文 | 记者 刘星彤 通讯员 饶思碧 陈晓双
翻译丨陈冠臻
审校 | 曾敏