Likewise, by the end of 2023, the tourism sector is projected to add more than 372 thousand jobs generated in El Salvador, surpassing 2019 levels by 10.8% and representing almost 14% of the total number of active jobs in the country.

According to the same report, it is estimated that by the end of 2023, the country's tourism sector will represent 12.3% of its total economy.

A look back at the past year

In 2022, the GDP contribution of El Salvador's Travel & Tourism sector grew by 43.7% compared to the previous year, to total more than US$3.5 billion, which represented 12% of the salvadoran economy, surpassing the figures reported in 2019, when the sector accounted for 11.7% of the national GDP.

Last year, the sector accounted for 360 thousand jobs, or 13.6% of total jobs in the country; 7.1% above 2019 levels.

During last year, the arrival of international travelers increased and generated a revenue of more than two billion dollars, that is, a growth of 65.2% compared to 2021.

For their part, domestic travelers accounted for more than 1.2 billion dollars, 26.2% above 2021 figures, and exceeding by 6.4% what was reported in 2019.

Julia Simpson, President and CEO of WTTC, said, "El Salvador's Travel & Tourism sector is recovering, showing great preference by travelers from around the world to visit and explore all that the country has to offer".

"Over the next 10 years, the sector will generate more than 154,000 new jobs in El Salvador, representing one out of every five jobs in the country".

What will the next decade be like?

The world tourism organization forecasts that the sector will increase its contribution to GDP to almost 5.7 billion dollars by 2033 and will employ almost 527,000 people nationwide, that is, 18.3% of the total number of jobs in the country.

Latin America

In 2022, Latin America's travel and tourism sector contributed US$302.6 billion to the regional economy, only 4.1% below the 2019 level.

Also, over the past year, the sector employed nearly 16.4 million people across the region, an increase of 17.7% over the previous year. The agency estimates that the sector will fully recover the jobs lost during the pandemic by the end of this year with more than 17 million job openings filled in the sector.

Translated by: A.M