Thousands of Hondurans went down in history on Monday by setting a new Guinness world record for the largest human Christmas tree.

"On behalf of the Guinness Book it is a great pleasure to announce that today ... the people of Honduras in Tegucigalpa, with 2,945 people, have broken the record for world's largest human Christmas tree," said company representative Carlos Martínez.

A smiling President Juan Orlando Hernandez received the certificate outside the presidential residence.

The former record holder had been Thailand, which in 2013 formed one with 852 children.

"It's officially amazing," Hernandez said after reading the document.

It was a bit of good news for the Central American nation, gripped by poverty and the world's highest homicide rate.