El Salvador: International tourism, receipts (% of total exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2020, El Salvador's international tourism, receipts (% of total exports) fell 8.31 percentage points on 2019 (from 20.65% to 12.34%).

Across the 21 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2019), the average change was +0.09 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.43 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 3.5 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 3.73 percentage points in 2003 and the biggest yearly fall was 8.31 percentage points in 2020. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2011 to 2020 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 8% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2020, El Salvador had the 25th highest value of the 120 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to El Salvador in the 2020 ranking

• Montenegro — 21st of 120: 14.43%
• Nepal — 22nd of 120: 13.44%
• Mauritius — 23rd of 120: 12.93%
• Portugal — 25th of 120: 12.24%
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 26th of 120: 12.15%
• Morocco — 27th of 120: 12.02%

What this measures

International tourism receipts are expenditures by international inbound visitors, including payments to national carriers for international transport. These receipts include any other prepayment made for goods or services received in the destination country. They also may include receipts from same-day visitors, except when these are important enough to justify separate classification. For some countries they do not include receipts for passenger transport items. Their share in exports is calculated as a ratio to exports 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 residents to nonresidents of general merchandise, goods sent for processing and repairs, nonmonetary gold, and services.

Limitations: Tourism can be either domestic or international. The data refers to international tourism, where the traveler's country of residence differs from the visiting country. International tourism consists of inbound (arrival) and outbound (departures) tourism. The data are from the World Tourism Organization (WTO), a United Nations agency. The data on inbound and outbound tourists refer to the number of arrivals and departures, not to the number of people traveling. Thus a person who makes several trips to a country during a given period is counted each time as a new arrival. The data on inbound tourism show the arrivals of nonresident tourists (overnight visitors) at national borders.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 24 values

International tourism, receipts (% of total exports) in nearby economies

• Argentina — 2.64% (2020)
• Aruba — 74.59% (2020)
• Bahamas, The — 59.64% (2020)
• Barbados — 44.44% (2016)
• Bolivia — 3.27% (2020)
• Brazil — 1.3% (2020)
• Chile — 1.3% (2020)
• Colombia — 5.13% (2020)
• Costa Rica — 7.4% (2020)
• Curaçao

More private sector & trade data for El Salvador

• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$17.85 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$6.43 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 44.76% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Latin America & the Caribbean (% of total merchandise imports) — 34.98% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.01% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$15.63 billion (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within region (% of total merchandise imports) — 34.98% (2023)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is El Salvador's international tourism, receipts (% of total exports)?

12.34% in 2020, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1995?

It is up 2.64 percentage points from 9.7% in 1995. The highest value was 26.41% in 2004 and the lowest 9.39% in 1996.

How does El Salvador rank?

25th highest of 120 economies with data for 2020.

Is the latest change in international tourism, receipts (% of total exports) unusual for El Salvador?

In 2020, El Salvador's international tourism, receipts (% of total exports) fell 8.31 percentage points on 2019 (from 20.65% to 12.34%). Across the 21 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2019), the average change was +0.09 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.43 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 3.5 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator ST.INT.RCPT.XP.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism; IMF exports estimates, International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Bank exports estimates, World Bank (WB) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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