Morena Valdez, the tourism minister of El Salvador, has spoken on the recovery the tourism sector of the country has reportedly experienced even after the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Valdez, tourism has greatly benefited both from the legalization of bitcoin in El Salvador and the influx of foreigners to the country for business and bitcoin-related purposes.
Tourism Recovers in El Salvador
Morena Vadez, El Salvador’s tourism minister, has released information about El Salvador’s tourism sector recovery. Even after Covid-19, tourism has managed to keep growing, ostensibly with the help of the Bitcoin Law that established the cryptocurrency as legal tender in the country. During an interview on a local TV news channel, Valdez stated:
According to the World Tourism Organization, we have an 81% recovery by 2022. They had calculated that 2024 would be year zero.
The minister attributes the recovery to three factors. The first has to do with the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, which has boosted the confidence of tourists that come to the country, and the second has to do with the investments that derive from the interest the country and its economic movements have awakened in foreign markets.
Bitcoin is a key factor
The third factor is the use of bitcoin and the benefits it brings to the country. The minister had related the growth in tourism to the usage of bitcoin before, saying that it has helped the sector grow by 30%. The minister reiterated this statement, sharing the data found in February.
Valdez shared new information on how bitcoin has affected the behavior of tourists visiting the country. Valdez declared:
Tourists who are interested in bitcoin implementation will spend more and stay longer. Before bitcoin there was a daily expense of $113 to $150, now it is up to $200 a day.
While the Bitcoin Law was criticised for being imposed on the population in an abrupt fashion, according to Valdez, the law has helped boost the tourism sector. Valdez ended by saying:
For Holy Week we have projected the visit of more than 170,000 people, approaching the flows of the year 2019. This is equivalent to $161 million in foreign currency.
What do you think about the importance of bitcoin in the recovery of the tourism sector in El Salvador? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Sergio Goschenko
Sergio is a Venezuelan cryptocurrency journalist. He describes himself as late to the game, entering the cryptosphere when the price rise happened during December 2017. He is a computer engineer by trade, and he lives in Venezuela. This has influenced him to offer a different perspective on crypto success and how it can help the underbanked and unbanked.
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