A small tourist town in Honduras is attempting to boost tourism by employing Bitcoin payments.
Santa Lucia, a small island in the Caribbean Sea also known as the name of a popular Neapolitan song, has introduced Bitcoin payments.
On July 28th, the town launched the “Bitcoin Valley” initiative, which aims to spurge tourism, allowing to pay with Bitcoin in 60 local businesses. The tourist will not be obligated to pay with Bitcoin, they can also use the United States dollar and Honduran Lempira to pay for their goodies.
Did you know?
Want to get smarter & wealthier with crypto?
Subscribe - We publish new crypto explainer videos every week!
What is Monero? XMR Animated Explainer
According to the report in local news outlet La Prensa, the business owners expect this initiative to significantly help expand the shop opportunities. Moreover, Cesar Andino, Los Robles shopping mall owner, hopes that this initiative will attract people who are keen to use this cryptocurrency, noting:
Accepting Bitcoin will allow us to open another market and win more customers. We have to globalize. We cannot close ourselves off from technology, and we cannot be left behind when other countries are already doing it.”
The initiative has been created by Santa Lucia’s government, Coincaex crypto exchange, Blockchain Honduras, and the Technological University of Honduras.
The news outlet has also covered how transactions will function. According to La Prensa, after a transaction is registered, it will be sent to Coincaex crypto exchange. In the exchange, the value in Bitcoin will be instantly adapted to Lempira and converted to this currency. Therefore, the owners of the shop will receive customer payments in Lempira rather than Bitcoin.
The adaptation of Bitcoin as the payment method is not the first time Honduras has been incorporating crypto into its functions. Back in April of 2022, the Honduras Economic Zone recognized this cryptocurrency as legal tender. This decision allows people to pay taxes in Bitcoin and issue its bonds.
A similar initiative has been taken on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, in Gibraltar. On July 27th, local shops started allowing people to pay for their goods in Bitcoin.
