Tourists flock to El Salvador despite Bitcoin bear market

cointelegraph.com:

Tourism in El Salvador has soared in the first half of 2022. Up 82.8% just this year, there were 1.1 million visitors to El Salvador this year, according to government figures. That's despite the price of Bitcoin (BTC) sinking almost 50% since Jan. 1. 

Data from the World Travel Organization reinforces the claims. The tiny Central American country is internationally recognized as “one of the countries with the best rate of tourism recovery in the region as of January 2022.”

El Salvador es reconocido internacionalmente como uno de los países con mejor ritmo de recuperación turística en la región a enero 2022.Según datos de la @UNWTO, el país posee una recuperación del 81%, más información en el siguiente enlace:https://t.co/Y9WVK1VJLe pic.twitter.com/wu7Jl25pEK

The report by the WTO states that some “Central American destinations have the best results compared to 2019,” including El Salvador at +81% compared with 2019, or pre-pandemic levels.

Contrary to reports from the Wall Street Journal that El Salvador’s bet on Bitcoin to attract tourists “hasn’t worked,” visits for the first half of this year almost outpace total visits in 2019: 1.1 million people visited the country in six months, compared to last year's total of 1.2 million.

In a radio interview, the General Director of Strategic Projects Ministry of Tourism of El Salvador, Alex Bonilla, explained that over the summer holiday period, the country can expect “57,500 international visitors, which will generate $60 million in foreign exchange during this vacation." It is expected that the 1.2 million figure mark will be beaten soon. 

El Director de Proyectos Estratégicos, @alexboSV, ya se encuentra en radio @SonoraFM_sv para hablar del desempeño del turismo en estas