San Salvador, July 31, 2025 – As part of a broader plan to modernize the nation’s infrastructure and airports, the government of Nayib Bukele has set out on an ambitious launch to rebrand the Central American country as one of the pre-eminent international hubs for travel and tourism in Latin America.
As construction is currently underway at multiple sites throughout the country, Bukele aims to modernize the nation’s airports and ports, and expand its existing infrastructure by building new and improved sites further in the country’s east, in IIopango and La Unión.
The initiatives are the Master Infrastructure Plan of 2030 and the National Tourism Plan, tasked with reducing travel costs to El Salvador, and boosting the nation’s profile and enhancing regional tourism for a nation undergoing a renewed identity as one of the most desirable travel destinations in Central America.
In July of 2024, El Salvador received a $465 million loan from the Latin American & Caribbean Development Bank (CAF), in part, for its aeronautical sector development program, in an effort to “promote the modernization, strengthening, and construction of aeronautical infrastructure” in El Salvador.
Larger quantities of foreign capital injected into the Salvadoran economy, and growing interest from banking institutions are indicative of stronger investor confidence in a country that has made tremendous advancements in its stability in government, following decades of bloody civil war and gang violence.
One of the program’s largest projects involves a new airport in the east of La Unión — dubbed Pacific International Airport, and is projected to create 5,000 new jobs and expand residential development in the surrounding area.
The investments in the nation’s ports and travel infrastructure are already seeming to pay dividends. Since the expansion of El Salvador International Airport in 2022, traffic has grown massively, reaching a milestone of more than 5.2 million passengers processed in the year 2024, marking the terminal as one of the busiest ports in all of Central America.
More recently, however, El Salvador will also invest $225 million in its flagship El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez, in the capital of San Salvador.
The project entails a renovation of the existing structure, including an expansion of additional terminals to process a higher volume of travelers, and enhance technology in its existing systems, like common waiting areas, customs facilities, immigration offices, and advanced X-ray systems.
Construction is expected to begin in August of 2025.
According to the President of the Autonomous Port Executive Commission (CEPA), and former General Secretary of the Nuevas Ideas party, Federico Anliker López, the airport will be projected to service 160 daily flight operations and approximately 17,000 travelers passing through the airport each day.
The airport will also be projected to service around 170,000 passengers — a 2.5% increase from the previous year.
