El Salvador’s President links the spike in tourists to the legalization of bitcoin

The UNWTO included the country at the top of the most popular destinations among travelers, noting that it has reached pre-pandemic levels

09.08.2022 - 10:25

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What’s new? El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has said that the country’s increased tourist spike is due to the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender. This is how he responded to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) post on Twitter, which included El Salvador in the top countries popular with travelers. According to the UNWTO’s report, from January to May 2022, El Salvador was able to restore its tourism industry to pre-pandemic levels.

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 🤙🏼But internal tourism is growing even more, mainly because of our crackdown on gangs. https://t.co/mBbarohmoZ pic.twitter.com/Iy6mFliicJ— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) August 6, 2022

What else is known about tourism in the country? Back in February, El Salvador’s Tourism Minister, Morena Valdez, said that the flow of tourists increased by 30% amid the adoption of bitcoin. Most of the people who visited the country were from the United States. Before the legalization of the first cryptocurrency, the main flow was observed from Central American countries.

Bukele also reported earlier that he was going to make it easier for crypto investors to get citizenship by sending bills to Congress to reform bureaucratic procedures, create tax incentives and update securities regulations.

El Salvador recognized BTC as legal tender in September 2021, after which the authorities repeatedly invested in the asset. The state has a total of 2381 coins in its accounts. Investments are valued at $56,46 million as of August 8, 09:40 UTC ($23 713), according to the Binance rate.

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