El Salvador’s El Zonte beach is set to receive more than $203 million in investment from the government. The beach is an iconic location, better known as ‘Bitcoin Beach,’ due to El Salvador’s successful adoption of Bitcoin to create a local circular economy. 

This investment represents efforts to improve the beach’s infrastructure and give tourists a better experience. It will see the addition of new businesses, roads, and support facilities.  

In a statement released on August 26th, President Nayib Bukele said, “El Zonte for many is known as Bitcoin Beach; we are going to fix an area of 15,000 square meters, where there will be a shopping center, parking, beach club, treatment plant, to revitalize the area.”

Bitcoin Beach will not be the only location to benefit from these investments. Part of the money will go into developing El Tunco, a popular surfing beach known as Surf City. This is phase two of developments in Surf City, which will include water sanitation projects, viewpoints, and lighting for the road to the beach.

The wider La Libertad region will also see more infrastructure with the expansion of the coastal highway, reconstruction of the municipal market, bike paths, a new drainage system, pedestrian crossings, and 14 bridges.

President Bukele announced,

This year we will expand 21 kilometers of the coastal highway to four lanes. And we will also do it with hydraulic concrete, which is more expensive than asphalt, but it lasts much longer.

Sand, Surf, and Bitcoin

El Salvador is one of a handful of countries whose tourism revenue has returned to pre-pandemic levels. This recovery is something President Bukele attributes to ‘Bitcoin and surf’ and the country’s fight against gangs. 

In April this year, the Minister of Tourism announced that tourism had grown by 30% since September 2021. He stated that the recovery was greatly helped by the adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender.

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