Santa Maria (Portuguese for Saint Mary) is a city[2] in the southern part of the island municipality of Sal, Cape Verde.

The town went into a deep decline, only to recover in 1920 when a Portuguese investor resumed salt production.

[4] In 1967, Belgian industrialists and engineers Georges Vynckier and Marguerite Massart opened Cape Verde's first resort hotel named Morabeza.

[5] After 1986, tourism became an important industry on the island, and many resorts and hotels were built in the southern and southwestern coastal areas near Santa Maria.

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