Increased visitors to El Salvador during vacations

El Salvador showed a growth in the number of visitors entering the country during the Holy Week vacations according to Ministry of Tourism figures:

The head of tourism reported that 59,340 tourists visited El Salvador during the holidays, arriving by sea and land, which represented a 17.5% increase over last year. The rise generated 20 million dollars in revenues, in comparison with 18 million last year.

"There has been a 24.2% drop in departures, which means that Salvadoreans are preferring to stay at home, something we have witnessed on our beaches and in our mountains throughout the Easter season, when there has been a larger flow of tourists", the official reported.

According to Minister Rochi, a total 70,780 Salvadoreans left the country during the Easter season, a 24.2% drop over last year, when 93,364 chose to travel abroad (32.4% rise with respect to the previous year).

So the country is approaching the level where those leaving the country and those entering the country roughly balance. It's fair to assume that most of the traffic into the country are Salvadorans and ex-Salvadorans with family and friends in the country.

But there were many things to visit while they were in the country -- in fact, an
inventory of tourist sites by La Prensa Grafica counted more than 1000 different locations in the country. Leading the way in popularity, to no one's surprise, are El Salvador's Pacific Ocean beaches.