International tourism, expenditures in El Salvador
El Salvador: International tourism, expenditures was 1.6% in 2020. ▼ Falling
International tourism, expenditures in El Salvador, 1995–2020
Source: Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism. Measured in % of total imports.
Analysis
The most recent figure for international tourism, expenditures in El Salvador is 1.6%, measured in 2020. That is the lowest value across all 24 years on record.
That represents a change of down 61.6% on the previous year and down 52.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, international tourism, expenditures in El Salvador peaked at 6.7% in 2004 and was at its lowest, 1.6%, in 2020.
That places El Salvador 160th out of 186 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 24 years of available data.
International tourism, expenditures in El Salvador, year by year
| Year | % of total imports | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 3.1% | — |
| 1996 | 3.4% | +8.8% |
| 1999 | 5.5% | +59.5% |
| 2000 | 4.9% | -10.4% |
| 2001 | 5.3% | +9.5% |
| 2002 | 5.8% | +7.5% |
| 2003 | 6.1% | +5.7% |
| 2004 | 6.7% | +10.1% |
| 2005 | 4.4% | -33.9% |
| 2006 | 4.1% | -8.4% |
| 2007 | 4.1% | +1.1% |
| 2008 | 3.4% | -18.0% |
| 2009 | 3.4% | +1.5% |
| 2010 | 3.3% | -4.5% |
| 2011 | 2.4% | -26.6% |
| 2012 | 2.7% | +14.3% |
| 2013 | 2.4% | -11.5% |
| 2014 | 2.5% | +3.7% |
| 2015 | 3.0% | +21.1% |
| 2016 | 4.2% | +38.5% |
| 2017 | 4.1% | -2.3% |
| 2018 | 4.0% | -3.3% |
| 2019 | 4.0% | +1.7% |
| 2020 | 1.6% | -61.6% |
El Salvador compared with similar countries
- El Salvador's 1.6% is below the median for upper middle income countries, which is 3.1%, 51% of the median. (55 countries reporting)
- El Salvador's 1.6% is below the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 3.4%, 45% of the median. (35 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 4.0% | 3.1% | 5.5% | 3 |
| 2000s | 4.8% | 3.4% | 6.7% | 10 |
| 2010s | 3.3% | 2.4% | 4.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1 |
Countries ranked near El Salvador
More private sector data for El Salvador
- Merchandise trade 66.1% (2025)
- Food imports 20.1% (2024)
- Manufactures imports 62.0% (2024)
- Merchandise imports 17.85 billion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 22.9% (2024)
- Manufactures exports 70.0% (2024)
- Merchandise exports 6.43 billion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 1,010 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.1751 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 1.87 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is international tourism, expenditures in El Salvador?
- International tourism, expenditures in El Salvador was 1.6% in 2020, according to Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism.
- What is the highest international tourism, expenditures recorded in El Salvador?
- The highest recorded value was 6.7% in 2004.
- What is the lowest international tourism, expenditures recorded in El Salvador?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.6% in 2020.
- How does El Salvador rank for international tourism, expenditures?
- El Salvador ranks 160th out of 186 countries with data for 2020.
- Is international tourism, expenditures rising or falling in El Salvador?
- Over the last ten years it is down 52.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this El Salvador data come from?
- The figures come from Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism, published as part of International tourism, expenditures (% of total imports). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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About this data
International tourism expenditures are expenditures of international outbound visitors in other countries, including payments to foreign carriers for international transport. These expenditures may include those by residents traveling abroad as same-day visitors, except in cases where these are important enough to justify separate classification. For some countries they do not include expenditures for passenger transport items. Their share in imports is calculated as a ratio to imports of goods and services, which comprise all transactions between residents of a country and the rest of the world involving a change of ownership from nonresidents to residents of general merchandise, goods sent for processing and repairs, nonmonetary gold, and services.