President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele stated that El Salvador’s rapid recovery in tourism was due to three factors: surfing, Bitcoin, and overall reduction of crime. Data from the World Tourism Organization showed that El Salvador was one 15-country country which had managed to restore their tourism revenues to pre-pandemic levels.
Nayib Bukele States International Tourism Growth is Powered By Bitcoin in El Salvador
Nayib Bukele is the President of El Salvador, and a promoter for the legalization of Bitcoin (BTC). He shared his thoughts on how the Salvadoran government has seen a rise in tourist income. Bukele explained that these growths were due to three main factors: Bitcoin, surf promotion, and crime reduction.
The president sent a tweet confirming the news. stated:
Few countries are able have their tourism back to pre-pandemic levels. And that’s international tourism, so the reasons behind it are mostly bitcoin Surf.
Recent data from the World Tourism Organization showed that El Salvador has been included on the list of countries with a return to pre-pandemic tourism levels. El Salvador managed to increase its tourism income by 6.6% compared to 2019, according to the World Tourism Organization.
This is in line with the information that authorities have reported about bitcoin’s impact on the country ever since it became legal tender. Minister of Tourism in Mexico, Morena Valdez stated on February 3 that tourism has risen by 30%.
Statistics further show that El Salvador’s crime and homicide rate has dropped significantly since 2020. The El Salvador has some of the most coveted waves in the entire world, according to surf statistics.
National Tourism is Also Growing
The president made mention of the increase in national tourist, however, saying:
Our crackdown on gangs is causing internal tourism to grow even further.
Bukele’s government was criticized heavily due to the measure sit has taken to stop gang-related crime, declaring a state of emergency that resulted in more than 9,000 individuals being detained last April. Bukele claims that this has led to the rise of national tourism.
Bukele also attached the Google Mobility Report to support his claims. It is an aggregate of data which shows changes in how many people visit certain places. According to the report, the number of visits to parks, recreation areas, pharmacies and grocery stores has all increased in the past three months.
Also, the government expects new bitcoin investments to bring more supporters of bitcoin to the country. Milena Mayorga is the Ambassador of El Salvador to the US. She recently stated that Bank Of The Future, which offers cryptocurrency investments, would invest $6Billion in El Salvador.
What do you think about Nayib Bukele’s view of the influence of Bitcoin on the growth of the tourism industry in El Salvador? Comment below.
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