El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, declared that the country’s rapid recovery in tourism is related to three factors: surfing, bitcoin, and overall crime reduction. El Salvador is one of 15 countries that have succeeded in bringing tourism revenues to pre-pandemic figures, according to World Tourism Organization data.
Nayib Bukele State International Tourism Growth Is Powered by Bitcoin in El Salvador
Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador and a proponent of adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as the country’s legal tender, shared his thoughts on the growth of Salvador’s national tourism revenue. Bukele said that this growth is the result of three key factors: the Bitcoin, the promotion of surfing, and the reduction of crime.
In a tweet, the President said:
Only a handful of countries have been able to restore tourism to pre-pandemic levels. And that’s mostly because of bitcoinbecause international tourism and surfing.
El Salvador was recently included in a list of countries whose tourism revenues have returned to pre-pandemic levels. According to the World Tourism Organization, El Salvador managed to grow its tourism income by 6% when compared to 2019.
This report is in line with what authorities have reported on the impact of Bitcoin’s inclusion in the country since it was made legal tender; in February, Morena Valdes, the country’s tourism minister, said that since this event, tourism has risen 30%.
Moreover, statisticsshow that El Salvador’s crime and homicide rates havefallen significantlysince 2020. Additionally, in terms of surfing, El Salvador has some of the bestwavesin the world.
National tourism is also growing
But the President also noted the growth of national tourism, saying.
But domestic tourism is growing even more. Mainly because of the crackdown on gangs.
Bukere’s administration was heavily criticized last April for the measures it took to stop gang-related crime, declaring a state of emergency that detained more than 9,000 people. However, Bukere claims that this has boosted the growth of tourism in the country.
To support his claim, Bukele also linked to the Google Mobility Report, a compendium of data showing changes in the number of visits happening to specific locations. The report shows that visits to retail and recreational facilities, grocery stores, pharmacies, and parks have all increased over the past three months.
The government is also looking forward to new bitcoin investments that will increase the number of bitcoin supporters. Milena Mayorga, El Salvador’s ambassador to the U.S., recentlyannounced that Bank Of The Future, a cryptocurrency investment platform, will invest $6 billion
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