The evolution of tourism in El Salvador has been boosted to unimaginable levels with the arrival of the current Government, which has managed to make the country experience a historic increase in the reception of tourists, allowing to increase the index of representation that this sector has within the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Tourism growth during 15 years of opposition administrations
On January 18, 2004, the Tourism Law came into force, with the objective of promoting national and foreign investments, both in infrastructure and in tourist services, giving rise to the creation of the Ministry of Tourism, thus evidencing the first detailed records on tourist arrivals to El Salvador.
These data allowed us to know the percentage contributed by the tourism sector to the GDP, which is broken down as follows:
Management of President Antonio Saca for the ARENA party (2004-2009).
2004: 2.6 %
2005: 3.7 %
2006: 4.5 %
2007: 3.7 %
2008: 3.3 %
2009: 2.5 %
President Mauricio Funes’ administration for the FMLN party (2009-2014).
2010: 2.4 %
2011: 2.7 %
2012: 3.2 %
2013: 3.7 %
2014: 4.4 %
Management of President Salvador Sánchez Cerén for the FMLN party (2014-2019).
2015: 4.5 %
2016: 4.9 %
2017: 5.1 %
2018: 5.9 %
2019: 6.3 %
The figures obtained in terms of tourism for these periods show that the contribution of tourism to the Salvadoran economy was below 10%, without being able to achieve an exponential increase greater than 3.7% between 2004 and 2019, that is, in the last three opposition governments, accompanied by high crime rates that overshadowed the great attractiveness and potential of the country in this area.
Tourism resurgence under the leadership of President Nayib Bukele
When President Nayib Bukele’s government took office for the Nuevas Ideas party (2019-present), tourism was a challenge for his administration, due to a turbulent start due to the lack of reception of travelers during the COVID-19 pandemic and the drop in visitor income post-pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
Despite the above, tourism development has experienced its peak thanks to the actions in matters of health and public safety implemented by the Salvadoran President, which have allowed travelers to have the confidence to have El Salvador among their preferred destinations.
In this sense, by the end of 2022, tourism contributed a total of 8.1% to the GDP; while in 2023, it registered a representation of 11% in the GDP, according to the data presented by the Tourism portfolio, which shows that in the first five years of the Bukele administration, the contribution of this sector was 4.7%, more than what previous administrations achieved in a total of 15 years.
These results are also part of the promotion of tourism that the Government has carried out as part of the main axes for national economic growth, placing the country in 2023 as the fourth place worldwide, and the first place in Latin America for its increase in international visitors compared to 2019, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
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