Brisa Hennessey, giving her time ahead of the Surf City El Salvador Pro. Photo: Thiago Diz //World Surf League
El Salvador’s presidential elections all but guaranteed another five years, at least, of the WSL Championship Tour (CT) returning to the small Central American nation. The incumbent president, Nayib Bukele, won reelection in a landslide with more than 85 percent of the vote, according to his celebration post on X. Another five years of Bukele’s administration solidifies his heavy investment in tourism – which most likely means shelling out big bucks to bring pro surfing events to El Salvador.
Bukele has undoubtedly embraced surfing more than any other modern-day president. His signature “Surf City” campaign has leveraged the country’s world-class waves to attract more tourism dollars and shed its image of gang violence. After Bukele’s first election in 2019, El Salvador started to flush money into the sport. They hosted several ISA events, including the 2021 Olympic qualifiers. Ultimately, in 2022, El Salvador earned the trust of the WSL to get a stop on the Championship Tour, which it has held ever since.
In 2023, the government spent a total of USD $21 million on surf events, coastal infrastructure, and tourism programs, according to Tourism Minister Morena Valdez. The CT event alone cost them a million dollars. While using surfing to prop up tourism is not a novel idea, El Salvador is, perhaps, leaning into it harder than any country ever has.
El Salvador is a valuable partner for the WSL because they host the only event on tour that foots the bill without a title sponsor. While the WSL has to go knocking on doors to get money for every other event (sponsors like Lexus, Shiseido, RipCurl, etc.), El Salvador’s government is happy to write a check that gives them naming rights on top of hosting rights: the “Surf City El Salvador Pro.” That’s why, provided there are no drastic changes to the tour format, it’s highly unlikely the WSL would walk away from this partnership anytime soon – especially now that the same administration will be in place for the next five years.
Whatever you think about Bukele’s brand of governance – from Bitcoin to mega prisons to accusations of human rights violations – he unquestionably is the world leader with the most sway over surfing. In 2021 he even made the drive from the capital to the coast to welcome the visiting surfers in person at the Olympic qualifier World Surfing Games.
El Salvador has successfully carved out a spot for themselves in the relevance of competitive surfing. In 2024, they’ll host three major events: a CT stop, the ISA Longboard Champs, and the ISA Junior Champs. It would be a safe bet to say that El Salvador will continue hosting the CT and will probably find its way into the qualification system for the LA 2028 Olympics. Thus, regular footers can rejoice, as the reeling rights of Punta Roca will most likely continue to play a role in crowning world champions for the foreseeable future.
