El Salvador has secured a prominent place on the global tourism map, with The Telegraph Travel, a leading British media outlet, highlighting the country’s transformation under President Nayib Bukele. The publication points to security achievements as the decisive factor behind El Salvador’s rapid rise in the tourism sector, backed by recent data from the UN Tourism Commission.
According to the UN ranking, El Salvador is now the third fastest-growing tourist destination worldwide (2024 vs. 2019), surpassed only by Qatar and Albania. The Telegraph Travel emphasized the nation’s dramatic turnaround, noting that just a decade ago El Salvador faced the world’s highest homicide rate at 106.3 per 100,000 inhabitants. Today, that figure has dropped to 1.9 per 100,000, a level close to that of the United Kingdom.
“With the streets now safe, tourists are flocking to this small Central American country, which welcomed 3.2 million international visitors in 2024, including more than 1.2 million Americans—an 80% increase compared to 2019,” the outlet reported.
The latest UN Tourism Barometer (January 2025) confirms El Salvador’s momentum, ranking it as the second-best performing destination in the world and the number one in the Western Hemisphere. Tourist arrivals rose by more than 81% compared to 2019, placing El Salvador ahead of Curaçao (+51%), Colombia (+37%), Guatemala (+33%), and the Dominican Republic (+32%).
Minister of Tourism Morena Valdez celebrated the achievement, crediting security policies as the foundation of this historic growth. “We are very satisfied with this result, which is the fruit of the efforts of President Nayib Bukele’s administration, but above all, of the security measures we currently have in place. Everything that has been done to ensure security in El Salvador has definitely allowed tourism to grow,” she stated.
As El Salvador continues to gain global recognition, its unprecedented improvement in security is being seen as a model that has not only restored public safety but also positioned the country as a leading tourism destination in the Americas.