According to official numbers, Bitcoin attracted at least one million and a half visitors; 60% of these tourists came from the US. Nayib Bukele revealed new reforms to make private investment in El Salvador easier for international investors.
El Salvador received with arms wide open almost a million and a half visitors with arms wide open since Bitcoin became legal tender in that Latin American nation. This information got confirmed this Monday by the Minister of Tourism, Morena Valdez.
In an official publication, Valdez highlighted expectations regarding the economic and visitor impact that Bitcoin would attract for the tourism sector in El Salvador got surpassed. According to the information, the country hoped for at least 1.1 million tourists, but the figure approached almost 1.4 million between November and December 2021. More than half of the tourists (60%) came from the United States of America.
Currently, the growth surpasses 30%. In addition, and according to the official, the tourist movement in these months brought at least USD 1,462 million in income.
The official note, which got revealed on the Presidency of El Salvador’s official webpage, explained that the implementation of Bitcoin as legal currency in that nation takes a vital part of a strategy developed to boost the economy sustainably. Tourism would be the first sector to show an improvement.
According Journalists, the GDP of El Salvador Could be the One that Increases the Most in 2022
Journalists Max Kaiser and his wife Stacy Herbert, who carry out their activities in El Salvador, reflected the growth of tourist activities in the country due to Bitcoin getting received as legal tender.
Stacy Herbert said that El Salvador receives visits from many foreign tourists, who previously only arrived at the country because of its popular surfing competitions. Now, the visits increased, and people come into the country because they want to see with their own eyes what is currently happening with Bitcoin.
According to Keiser, the projections highlighting that tourism in El Salvador will increase another 50% in 2022 fall short. He believes those calculations are conservative and that growth returns to a significant 100%. In addition, the journalist thinks that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Central American nation can become the fastest at the end of this year.
Bukele is Planning More Reforms to Create a field for Private Investment
Meanwhile, President Nayib Bukele showed himself via Twitter and highlighted that he would launch 52 legal reforms to Congress to reduce bureaucracy and generate better tax incentives to prepare the field for private investment. The bills seek to cover sectors like new and more efficient securities laws and stability contracts.
The Latin American leader explained that the reforms include a policy that offers foreign investors Salvadoran citizenship in exchange for investments.
Bukele first mentioned the initiative to bring immediate permanent residence to Bitcoin entrepreneurs in June 2021. He also noted that there would be no capital gains tax for Bitcoin, among others incentives.
By: Jenson Nuñez
