Travel and tourism remains one of the strongest sectors to contribute to global gross domestic profit (GDP). This according to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s annual Economic Impact Research report, released on March 22.
The results showed that travel and tourism was responsible for the creation of seven million new jobs worldwide, and grew 4.6% in 2017 – 50% faster than the global economy as a whole (which experienced 3% growth in that year). This will be the seventh consecutive year that the sector has outperformed the economy, and in 2017 proved itself to be the fastest growing broad economic sector globally. Following travel and tourism were manufacturing which grew at 4.2%; retail and wholesale at 3.4%; agriculture, forestry and fisheries at 2.6%; and financial services at 2.5%.
WTTC President and CEO, Gloria Guevara, said: “Travel and tourism creates jobs, drives economic growth and helps build better societies. Our research shows that our sector was responsible for the creation of one in five of all jobs globally. In the last few years governments around the world are realising the extraordinary benefits of tourism and I congratulate them for taking steps to maximise our sector’s potential.”
For 2017, travel and tourism’s direct, indirect and induced impact – according to the study – account for the following:
- US$8.3 trillion (€6.7t) contribution to global GDP (10.4%)
- 313 million jobs, 1 in 10 jobs around the world
- US$1.5 trillion (€1.2t) exports (6.5% of total exports, 28.8% of global services exports)
- US$882 billion (€662.8bn) investment (4.5% of total investment)
Guevara comments: “2017 was the best year on record for the travel and tourism sector. We have seen increased spending as a result of growing consumer confidence, both domestically and internationally, recovery in markets in North Africa and Europe previously impacted by terrorism and continued outbound growth from China and India. This is great news for the millions of people who depend on our sector for their livelihoods.”
Other highlights from across the globe include (for the 2017 period):
- North Africa growing by 22.6% in 2017, with heightened performance from Egypt (72.9%) and Tunisia (7.6%)
- Europe experiencing better than expected growth at 4.8% with long-haul demand recovering slightly
- Northeast Asia growing at 7.4% and Southeast Asia at 6.7%
- China continuing to lead at 9.8% (research shows that over the next decade, over one-third of absolute GDP growth, and nearly half of employment growth, will be generated by China and India)
- Latin America, however, showed a decline of 1.4% in tourism GDP, believed to be as a result of a lowering of international spend to the largest Latin American economy, Brazil, of 18.1% compared with the previous year
The outlook to 2028 remains largely unchanged, with an average growth of 3.8% per year. With that said, travel and tourism is expected to generate more than 400m jobs globally – this translates to one in nine of all jobs across the globe.
Guevara concludes: “As our sector continues to become more important both as a generator of GDP and jobs, our key challenge will be ensuring this growth is sustainable and inclusive. Going forward we need to ensure that growth is planned for, well managed and includes partnerships between not only the public and private sectors but also includes communities themselves. There is a huge potential for governments to capitalise on the opportunities travel and tourism bring to create new jobs, especially in those economies where many jobs in other sectors are under threat from automation. Travel and tourism is the best partner for governments to create jobs.”
To view the WTTC infographic, click here.
