The number of foreign visitors who entered the country during Holy Week in 2026 reached 126,565, which represents 15% less than the 148,409 registered in 2025, reported the Guatemalan Tourism Institute (Inguat).
The entity states that the decrease was concentrated in nearby markets of origin, such as Panama and El Salvador, and argues that The results reflect that “the value generated by tourism continues to increase with growth in strategic markets such as Japan (81%), Netherlands (56%), United Kingdom (43%) and Canada (43%)” and that this aspect reinforces Guatemala’s positioning in high-value international segments.
However, according to the institute, this behavior did not affect the growth of the economic flow, since the total derived from internal and external tourism this year stood at Q3,618.49 million, with a growth of 29% compared to the Q2,802.11 million registered in 2025.
The institution argues that the result was driven especially by the increase in spending by international visitors, since it estimated that the economic benefit went from Q730.39 million in 2025 to Q1,090.10 million in the current year’s season, with a growth of 49%.
These results are attributed by Inguat to a change in the composition of the tourism that the country receives, “with a greater weight of long-distance visitors” coming from what they call strategic markets in Europe, Asia and North America, which reflect a greater stay and spending capacity.
Domestic tourism
According to the information disclosed by said entity in the bulletin of this April 15, during Holy Week this year, 4 million 243 thousand 706 tourist trips or trips were registered, which represents 9% more than in 2025.
Of that total, 3,975,527 were trips made by residents, 8% more, while 268,179 were made by non-resident visitors who increased their mobility within the country by 47%, expanding their journey and their contribution to local economies, the statement added.
The destinations that led the influx are Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala City, Lake Atitlán and the Pacific beaches, followed by Quetzaltenango, Petén, Cobán, Izabal, Retalhuleu, Chichicastenango, Esquipulas and Huehuetenango. However, unlike previous years, this year Inguat has not provided visitation data by destination.
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Other information
In March 2026, the country registered 299,298 non-resident visitors, which represents 6% more compared to the same month in 2025, according to Inguat. In January the growth was 9% and in February 7%.
However, temporality must be taken into account, since In 2025, Holy Week was from April 13 to 20, while in 2026 it began on March 29 and lasted until April 5, that is, part of this high season covered the last days of March.
They improve technology to collect data
Inguat informed Prensa Libre that the same source of information was used to measure tourism for Holy Week in 2026 as last year (mobile phone Big Data), however, the methodology for collecting this data was improved, incorporating the measurement in new destinations aligned with the priorities established by the Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism 2026-2036.
Derived from it The data for Holy Week in 2025 were recently recalculated using this same methodology to ensure interannual comparability, resulting in a total of 3 million 875 thousand 937 tourist movements for said year. When comparing this data with this year’s results, the aforementioned 9% growth is observed. And the entity ensures that the data is comparable year-on-year.
Regarding domestic tourism, for said recalculation carried out for Holy Week 2025, it reflected a total of 3 million 693 thousand 260 resident movements that year, based on which a growth of 8% was recorded by 2026.
The reestimation of the measurement is aligned with the Master Plan and responds to institutional strategies aimed at strengthening local economies and promoting a broader distribution of tourism in the national territory, Inguat stated.