In the first half of 2022, El Salvador’s Bitcoin tourism has grown dramatically. According to government statistics, there were 1.1 million tourists to El Salvador this year, an increase of 82.8% just this year. That’s despite the fact that Bitcoin’s (BTC) price has fallen by roughly 50% since January 1.
The statements are supported by data from the World Travel Organization. According to worldwide rankings as of January 2022, the tiny Central American republic is “one of the countries with the strongest rate of tourism recovery in the region.”
El Salvador, which has outcomes that are +81 per cent better than those of 2019 or pre-pandemic levels, is listed among the “Central American destinations with the best results compared to 2019” in the WTO report.
According to claims made by several news publishing houses, El Salvador’s gamble on Bitcoin to lure tourists “hasn’t worked,” since the number of visitors during the first six months of this year was almost more than the total number of visitors during the entire previous year (1.2 million).
The nation can confidently predict “57,500 international visitors, which will generate $60 million in foreign exchange during this vacation,” according to Alex Bonilla, general director of strategic projects at the Ministry of Tourism of El Salvador, in a radio interview. It is anticipated that the 1.2 million figure mark will be soon surpassed.
This year’s May also saw a flurry of central bankers visit El Salvador. The Central Bank of Paraguay, whose representative was a traveller in El Salvador, claimed that the powerful group of guests “did not discuss Bitcoin.” But there were a lot of pictures of the 44 central bankers and economists using the Bitcoin Beach Wallet at El Zonte, the country’s first major BTC adoption hub.
The Adopting Bitcoin conference and Lightning Summit are held in San Salvador, the nation’s capital, in November of this year. The conference will feature presentations from more than 80 specialists in Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, as well as officials from Blockstream, Spiral, and El Salvador.
In a recent tweet, El Salvador’s president Nayeb Bukulele stated that the country had bought 80 Bitcoins for $1.52 million. Even though Bitcoin has fallen by 70% from its top in November 2021, the nation still appears to be bullish on the cryptocurrency in the long run.
In May, the nation made its most recent purchase of 500 coins for a total of $15.3 million and $30,744 per one. El Salvador has spent $103.9 million buying 2301 Bitcoins, a decrease of 55.03 percent from September 2021 to the present. However, the portfolio’s value is currently $46.6 million.