El Salvador Tourism Revenue Increases After Bitcoin Adoption. El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele shared his thoughts on the growth of tourism revenue in his country. Bukele says this growth is the result of three main factors: bitcoin, the promotion of surfing, and the reduction of crime.
In a tweet, Bukele said only a handful of countries were able to restore tourism to pre-pandemic levels. But Salvador was able to achieve this because of the adoption of Bitcoin and the promotion of surfing.
El Salvadaro was recently on a list of countries whose tourism revenues have returned to pre-pandemic levels. According to the World Tourism Organization, El Salvador has managed to grow tourism revenues by 6 percent when compared to 2019.
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This report is consistent with what the authorities have been reporting on the effects of bitcoin’s influx in the country since it was declared legal tender. In February, Morena Valdez, the country’s tourism minister, said the tourism industry had increased 30 percent since adopting bitcoin.
Further statistics show El Salvador’s crime and homicide rates have dropped significantly since 2020. Also, in terms of surfing, El Salvador is home to some of the top rated waves in the world.
The growth conveyed by Bukele also refers to the growth of national tourism. Bukele says internal tourism is growing, mainly because of the crackdown on gangs.
The Bukele government has been heavily criticized for measures taken to stop gang-related crime, declaring a state of emergency that saw more than 9,000 people detained last April. However, Bukele claims this has encouraged the growth of the national tourism industry.
To support his argument, Bukele also links to a Google Mobility Report, a summary of data that shows changes in the number of visits to certain places.
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The report shows visits to retail and recreational areas, grocery stores and pharmacies, and parks have all increased in the past three months.
El Salvador Tourism Revenue Increases After Bitcoin Adoption. Previously, Bitcoin managed to hold above USD 23,000 or around Rp. 343.2 million throughout the weekend. This is presumably because most investors are starting to digest well the very strong US Labor Department report on Friday, August 5, 2022.
The largest cryptocurrency by market cap recently traded around USD 23,300 (Rp 347.7 million), up slightly over the last 24 hours and roughly where it started the weekend.
Bitcoin briefly fell below USD 23,000 on Friday following a US Department of Labor report. So far, Bitcoin has lost more than 50 percent of its value since the start of the year, plummeting with stocks, as investors worry about the threat of inflation and economic contraction.
However, digital assets have strengthened along with stocks over the past three weeks, amid signs that hopes the economy is starting to improve slightly.
Oanda America Senior Market Analyst Edward Moya said if Bitcoin can hold on to the $23,000 level, it could be very promising for the medium-term outlook.
“Bitcoin has stabilized here and could see further bullish momentum on a break of the USD 25,000 level,” Moya said as quoted by CoinDesk, Monday (8/8/2022).
Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was recently trading around USD 1,700. Other major cryptocurrencies were mixed with Theta and ATOM up more than 7 percent and 6 percent respectively at one point.
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Cryptos were back in tune with major equity markets on Friday, which fell following jobs figures before regaining ground in the afternoon to end flat.
The tech-based Nasdaq fell 0.5 percent on Friday while the S&P 500, which has a strong technology component, was down 0.2 percent. Nevertheless, both indexes advanced for the third week in a row, supported not only by signs of slow growth but also upbeat forecasts from a number of global financial technology and services brands.
News in the Crypto Industry
Meanwhile, the crypto industry is experiencing a mix of good and bad news. On Monday last week, the exploit of the Nomad cross-chain messaging protocol suffered a $200 million hack.
El Salvador Tourism Revenue Increases After Bitcoin Adoption. On the other hand, good news emerges from recent initiatives involving large institutional investors. Asset manager Brevan Howard has completed the launch of the largest crypto hedge fund ever, with over USD 1 billion in assets under management.
Later, BlackRock formed a partnership with crypto exchange Coinbase to make crypto available directly to institutional investors.
