Travel services in El Salvador
El Salvador: Travel services was 60.7% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Travel services in El Salvador, 1976–2025
Source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in % of commercial service exports.
Analysis
In 2025, travel services in El Salvador stood at 60.7%. That is the highest value across all 50 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 1.1% on the previous year and up 79.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, travel services in El Salvador peaked at 60.7% in 2025 and was at its lowest, 11.0%, in 1980.
That places El Salvador 52nd out of 198 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 50 years of available data.
Travel services in El Salvador, year by year
| Year | % of commercial service exports | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 30.1% | — |
| 1977 | 30.4% | +1.0% |
| 1978 | 33.6% | +10.4% |
| 1979 | 20.6% | -38.5% |
| 1980 | 11.0% | -46.9% |
| 1981 | 12.8% | +16.8% |
| 1982 | 18.2% | +42.5% |
| 1983 | 19.1% | +4.5% |
| 1984 | 19.3% | +1.2% |
| 1985 | 22.1% | +14.8% |
| 1986 | 22.1% | -0.1% |
| 1987 | 17.8% | -19.5% |
| 1988 | 19.9% | +11.8% |
| 1989 | 18.1% | -9.0% |
| 1990 | 25.2% | +39.3% |
| 1991 | 25.0% | -1.2% |
| 1992 | 21.7% | -12.8% |
| 1993 | 21.7% | -0.1% |
| 1994 | 19.1% | -11.9% |
| 1995 | 20.5% | +7.3% |
| 1996 | 16.3% | -20.8% |
| 1997 | 19.6% | +20.7% |
| 1998 | 22.2% | +13.0% |
| 1999 | 21.8% | -1.9% |
| 2000 | 18.9% | -13.3% |
| 2001 | 16.8% | -10.8% |
| 2002 | 19.7% | +16.9% |
| 2003 | 26.9% | +36.7% |
| 2004 | 22.5% | -16.3% |
| 2005 | 24.9% | +10.8% |
| 2006 | 25.8% | +3.6% |
| 2007 | 31.8% | +23.1% |
| 2008 | 28.2% | -11.4% |
| 2009 | 25.3% | -10.3% |
| 2010 | 26.6% | +5.2% |
| 2011 | 26.3% | -1.2% |
| 2012 | 30.9% | +17.5% |
| 2013 | 30.0% | -3.0% |
| 2014 | 36.3% | +21.1% |
| 2015 | 33.9% | -6.6% |
| 2016 | 33.3% | -1.7% |
| 2017 | 35.0% | +5.2% |
| 2018 | 36.9% | +5.2% |
| 2019 | 40.8% | +10.7% |
| 2020 | 30.4% | -25.5% |
| 2021 | 33.4% | +9.8% |
| 2022 | 44.9% | +34.6% |
| 2023 | 54.8% | +21.9% |
| 2024 | 60.0% | +9.5% |
| 2025 | 60.7% | +1.1% |
El Salvador compared with similar countries
- El Salvador's 60.7% is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 48.7%, 1.2× the median. (55 countries reporting)
- El Salvador's 60.7% is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 54.9%, 1.1× the median. (37 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 28.7% | 20.6% | 33.6% | 4 |
| 1980s | 18.0% | 11.0% | 22.1% | 10 |
| 1990s | 21.3% | 16.3% | 25.2% | 10 |
| 2000s | 24.1% | 16.8% | 31.8% | 10 |
| 2010s | 33.0% | 26.3% | 40.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 47.4% | 30.4% | 60.7% | 6 |
Countries ranked near El Salvador
- 49 Saudi Arabia 63.7% compare
- 50 Botswana 63.2% compare
- 51 Australia 61.0% compare
- 53 Thailand 59.4% compare
- 54 Tanzania, United Republic of 57.4% compare
- 55 French Polynesia 56.7% compare
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 travel services in El Salvador?
- Travel services in El Salvador was 60.7% in 2025, according to Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- What is the highest travel services recorded in El Salvador?
- The highest recorded value was 60.7% in 2025.
- What is the lowest travel services recorded in El Salvador?
- The lowest recorded value was 11.0% in 1980.
- How does El Salvador rank for travel services?
- El Salvador ranks 52nd out of 198 countries with data for 2025.
- Is travel services rising or falling in El Salvador?
- Over the last ten years it is up 79.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this El Salvador data come from?
- The figures come from Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF), published as part of Travel services (% of commercial service exports). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 50 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Travel services cover goods and services for own use or to give away acquired from an economy by nonresidents during visits to that economy, or acquired from other economies by residents during visits to these other economies. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of service exports which are commercial services provided by residents to non-residents.