Tourism tipped to create 126 million...

WTTC says the sector will be a driving force of the global economic recovery

The World Travel & Tourism Council’s latest Economic Impact Report (EIR) reveals the travel and tourism sector is expected to create nearly 126 million new jobs within the next decade.

The announcement was made by WTTC president and CEO Julia Simpson in her opening speech at the organisation’s Global Summit in the Philippines before more than 1,000 delegates from across the global travel and tourism sector.

The EIR report shows travel and tourism’s GDP is forecast to grow at an average rate of 6% annually between 2022-2032, outstripping the 3% growth rate for the global economy, to reach $14.6 trillion (11% of the total global economy).

The report also showed that global travel and tourism GDP could reach pre-pandemic levels by 2023. The sector’s contribution to GDP is expected to grow a massive 44% to almost $8.4 trillion by the end of 2022, amounting to 8.5% of total global economic GDP, just 13% behind 2019 levels.

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Simpson said: “Over the next decade travel and tourism will create 126 million new jobs worldwide. In fact, one in three new jobs created will be related to our sector. Looking to this year and the next, WTTC forecasts a brighter future with both GDP and employment set to reach pre-pandemic levels by next year.

“The recovery in 2021 was slower than expected due in part to the impact of the Omicron variant but mainly due to an uncoordinated approach by governments who rejected the advice of the World Health Organization, which maintained that closing borders would not stop the spread of the virus but would only serve to damage economies and livelihoods.”

Another finding to come out of the WTTC 2022 EIR report was that Global Travel & Tourism employment is expected to grow in 2022 by 4%.

For more information, visit www.wttc.org