Cabo Verde Has Made History at the World Cup. Can It Convert Attention Into Bookings?

The island nation draws 1.2 million tourists a year, mostly from Europeans on all-inclusive packages. That won't change overnight, but it may bring awareness to Americans who struggle to place the island nation on a map.

Cabo Verde wasn’t supposed to have a chance against Lionel Messi and the Argentina team. Instead, the tiny West African nation pushed the defending World Cup champs to extra time and a narrow 3-2 loss.

It was the smallest country in tournament history to advance to the knockout stage and now the roughly 550,000-person island nation is finding a new audience among millions of World Cup viewers. Interest in the destination spiked leading up to Friday's match, with Expedia, TUI, and Google all tracking a surge in searches.

The global attention could help diversify the island nation’s tourism industry, which has yet to truly crack source markets outside of Europe. While tourism makes up roughly a quarter of its GDP, it is largely dependent on European travelers visiting just two out of nine inhabited islands.

Most travelers book all-inclusive packages from foreign operators like TUI and Spain’s Meliá, keeping much of the tourist spe

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