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El Salvador will have the highest tourism growth in Latin America in the first half of 2024
Posted: February 23, 2024 | Last updated: February 23, 2024
This footage was filmed and produced 20 December 2023. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) concluded in a recent joint study with ForwardKeys that El Salvador will experience the greatest dynamism in international tourist arrivals in the first half of 2024 of all Latin America. The WTTC published this week the growth projections for Latin America, which in the first six months of the year will receive 12% more international tourist arrivals compared to the same period in 2019. The list of top destinations in the region highlights El Salvador, where a strong growth of 157% of international tourists is expected compared to 2019. It is followed by Nicaragua, with a variation of 142%, Guatemala with 52%, Honduras with 49%, as well as Costa Rica with 35%, Mexico with 31% and Colombia with 24%. El Salvador's tourism industry contributed more than $3.7 billion to the economy last year. President Nayib Bukele's administration explains the upturn by improvements in citizen security that has mobilized especially Salvadorans abroad. SHOTLIST: 1. various of San Salvador; 2. various of tourist beach; 3. various of businesses that accept Bitcoin; 4. various of pupusas (typical food) locals; 5. various of volcanoes; 6. various of animal sculptures on the road.
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The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a $106 million loan to help El Salvador’s tourism industry rebound and grow. The operation is designed to make the sector more competitive by increasing per-visitor spending, creating new jobs, and reducing gender gaps among its workers. It also aims to make the country’s tourist destinations more environmentally sustainable.
El Salvador has major tourist attractions, especially natural ones, which have driven a thriving industry. From 2011 to 2019, tourism accounted for over 17.9% of the country’s exports and provided 31,360 direct jobs. This in turn enhanced the quality of life of thousands of Salvadoran families, many of whom were living in vulnerable circumstances. To avoid putting El Salvador’s tourism industry in permanent jeopardy, which would undermine the country’s economic outlook and the quality of life of its citizens, it is crucial to improve the industry’s environmental sustainability and climate resilience.
El Salvador needs good land-use planning for its destinations, a system of environmental laws governing key aspects like coastal management, and solutions for gaps in access to drinking water or solid waste management services, all of which are among the aspects this program aims to address.
This IDB operation will enable strategic investments in resilient public infrastructure, with a particular focus on the elements most exposed to the ravages of climate change. It will also fund the design and implementation of vital environmental sustainability programs. For example, it provides resources for building ecological waterfronts; for restoring critical ecosystems and preserving them in an inclusive way (including a program to reclaim and protect mangrove forests in eastern El Salvador); and for developing environmental sustainability plans for tourist destinations and environmental certifications for beaches.
The program will expand and improve seven drinking water systems and four wastewater treatment systems. It also plans to bolster security services for tourists through investments like street lighting, lifeguard posts, and signs at destinations and along access routes.
The operation will also help make the country’s tourism business ecosystem more productive and resilient. For this goal, the program includes several instruments meant to strengthen the industry’s human capital and improve tourism products, all while mainstreaming gender and fostering accessible tourism.
Studies show that women in El Salvador’s tourist industry have higher educational gaps than women in other industries. Also, women make up 60% of the workforce for tourism, but only 36% hold managerial positions. To advance gender equality and accessible tourism in the country, the program’s technical and financial assistance, and industry-based training will prioritize enterprises and investments that address these aspects.
The program also aims to modernize the sector by creating the conditions for adopting new information and communication technologies and upgrading the technological and software infrastructure of government agencies related to tourism.
All these steps will improve quality of life in El Salvador. It is estimated that the program will benefit over 960,000 people, counting tourism industry workers and their families.
About the IDB
The Inter-American Development Bank is devoted to improving lives. Established in 1959, the IDB is a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social, and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB also conducts cutting-edge research and provides policy advice, technical assistance, and training to public and private sector clients throughout the region.
Funez,Angela
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International tourism, number of arrivals - El Salvador
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During the pandemic, El Salvador hopes to revive tourism with a folkloric art rebrand
Translations
Photo of El Salvador's Ministry of Tourism , under public domain.
On October 7, Salvadoran Tourism Minister Morena Valdez launched the new tourism logo “El Salvador” inspired by the work and art of Fernando Llort . The newly designed rebrand is intended to promote tourist destinations alongside the Surf City branding concept.
The new brand “El Salvador” is an effort by the Bukele administration to boost tourism and intends to showcase everything the country has to offer, such as colorful towns, beaches, archaeological sites, and handicrafts.
It was created through an agreement between the Llort Foundation “Árbol de Dios” and the Ministry of Tourism. The arrangement will allow the Ministry to use Llort's artwork, such as his lettering, to be applied in the new El Salvador brand logo.
Fernando Llort was an artist from the small town of La Palma in the southern department of Chalatenango, and is credited with bringing the country's cultural wealth to national and international audiences. Llort painted and taught Naif art , a technique that imprints moments of everyday rural life and typical flora and fauna onto wood or the seeds of the copinol tree.
Fernando Llort's art mural on display at the San Salvador national Cathedral in 2010. Photo by Cam Ventoza . Licensed under CC 3.0
Each of the new “El Salvador” logo letters is engraved with iconic scenes from Llort's artwork.
Para recuperar la identidad y el orgullo de ser salvadoreños, hoy lanzamos la marca destino El Salvador inspirada en la obra de Fernando Llort. Las letras que la conforman están grabadas con escenas cotidianas, la esencia de la gente, la naturaleza y los colores del país. pic.twitter.com/fSHrJF4M26 — Ministerio de Turismo (@MITURElSalvador) October 7, 2020
To recover the identity and pride of being Salvadorans, today we launch the destination brand El Salvador inspired by the work of Fernando Llort. The letters that make it up are engraved with everyday scenes, the essence of the people, nature, and the colors of the country.
The new tourism rebranding will promote tourist destinations, culture, and local arts and crafts , similar to Fernando Llort's Naif art. The goal is to help recover the tourism industry which has been decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
El Salvador is expected to lose about 440 million U.S. dollars in 2020 due to the fall in international tourism. It is estimated that, thus far, the tourism sector has lost up to 120,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Even though the international airport is now open for commercial flights, foreign tourists do not travel as much. There are still travel difficulties that need to be clarified, such as the PCR tests required at international airports. Yet, the World Travel and Tourism Council, WTTC , deemed El Salvador a safe travel destination after evaluating the Ministry's eight biosafety protocols, according to the Salvadoran Ministry of Tourism . El Salvador is among the first countries in the region to obtain this seal of compliance .
Juan Pablo Llort, the son of artist Fernando Llort, expressed his gratitude to the Ministry for using his father's work in this brand. He is quoted in a press release from the Ministry:
Agradecemos este homenaje a mi padre, Fernando Llort, y nos sentimos muy honrados que pensaran en él, para exponer sus obras y diseños en esta marca y esperamos que con ello se muestre parte del rostro de la belleza de nuestra tierra.
We are grateful for this tribute to my father, Fernando Llort. We feel very honored that they thought of him, to exhibit his works and designs in this brand, and we hope that this will show part of the face of the beauty of our land.
It is uncertain how much this new brand will help the recovery of the tourism industry. In 2018, Morena Valdez helped launch the tourism slogan, “El Salvador, Grande Como su Gente” (El Salvador, Great like its People), that cost Salvadoran taxpayers 450,000 US dollars. The slogan ended up being controversial after Interbrand, the company commissioned by the government to create the branding, was accused of using the color palette and concept from other international logos to create El Salvador's tourism logo.
Although tourism is a vital business sector for El Salvador, the news has not attracted much attention. Thus far, reactions to the new brand on social media have been few but mainly positive. A common criticism is that the design is too simplistic , or that to truly regain El Salvador's identity would mean to teach the indigenous language Náhuatl, folkloric dances, and traditional loom weaving.
No one knows if the new brand will help attract tourism to El Salvador after COVID-19, but El Salvador's tourism industry has been hit hard by the pandemic. Perhaps traditional art can help it rebound.
- El Salvador
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