El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, claimed that three factors, meaning surfing, bitcoin, and overall crime decrease, were responsible for the swift rebound of the tourism industry in the nation. According to information from the World Tourism Organization, El Salvador was one of the 15 nations that were able to restore their tourism revenues to levels seen prior to the pandemic.
The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, expressed his views on the rise in tourism-related revenue in the country and advocated for the introduction of bitcoin as legal cash. Bukele claimed that three important factors—the promotion of surf and the decline in crime—were responsible for this rise.
“Only a handful of countries have been able to recover its tourism to pre-pandemic levels. And that’s international tourism, so the reasons behind it are mostly bitcoin and surf.”
El Salvador was recently listed among the nations whose tourism revenues have reached pre-pandemic levels. The World Tourism Organization reports that El Salvador has increased its tourism-related revenue by 6% in comparison to 2019.
This analysis is in line with what the government has been saying about the impact of bitcoin use in the nation ever since it was made legal tender. The country’s tourism minister, Morena Valdez, said in February that the sector had grown by 30% since the event.
Statistics also demonstrate a dramatic decline in crime and homicide since 2020 in El Salvador. Additionally, El Salvador has some of the best waves in the world for surfing.