MANILA — The future of travel and tourism looks bright indeed according to the WTTC’s latest Economic Impact Report (EIR), which found that the sector is expected to create nearly 126 million new jobs within the next decade.
Announced by Julia Simpson, President & CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) in her opening speech at the Global Summit in the Philippines earlier this week, the report also found that the Travel & Tourism sector will be a driving force of the global economic recovery, creating one in three of all new jobs.
Meanwhile, the sector’s GDP is forecasted to grow at an average rate of 5.8% annually between 2022-2032, outstripping the 2.7% growth rate for global economy, to reach US$14.6 trillion (11.3% of the total global economy).
To further boost optimism, the EIR report also shows global Travel & Tourism GDP could reach pre-pandemic levels by 2023, just 0.1% below 2019 levels. The sector’s contribution to GDP is expected to grow a massive 43.7% to almost US$8.4 trillion by the end of 2022, amounting to 8.5% of the total global economic GDP, just 13.3% behind 2019 levels.
This will be matched by a boost in Travel & Tourism employment, which is expected to approach 2019 levels in 2023, only 2.7% below. In 2022, global Travel & Tourism employment is expected to grow by 3.5%, making up 9.1% of the global job market, lagging behind 2019 levels by 10%.
“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,” said Simpson. “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.”
LOOKING BACK A YEAR
The EIR report also revealed that 2021 saw the beginning of the recovery for the global Travel & Tourism sector. Its contribution to GDP climbed an impressive 21.7% year on year, to reach more than US$5.8 trillion.
Prior to the pandemic, the sector’s contribution to GDP was 10.3% (US$9.6 trillion) in 2019, falling to 5.3% (nearly $4.8 trillion) in 2020 when the pandemic was at its height, representing a staggering 50% loss.
The sector saw a recovery of more than 18 million global Travel & Tourism jobs, representing a positive 6.7% rise in 2021.
Travel & Tourism’s contribution to the global economy and employment would have been higher if it weren’t for the impact of the Omicron variant, which led to the recovery faltering around the world, with many countries reinstating severe travel restrictions.
