LIMA — Lack of recognition of the economic role of Travel & Tourism continues to hinder the sector’s growth potential and governments need to wake up and take action.

That is one of the messages from the CEO & President of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) at the opening ceremony of WTTC’s 2014 Americas Summit in Peru.

In his opening speech at the regional Summit, being held in Lima, David Scowsill says bad decisions will continue to be made on visas, taxation and infrastructure development, unless government departments start recognizing the importance of the sector and coordinate on policies.

Scowsill says the case for giving Travel & Tourism more attention is unquestionable. “The financial contribution of our sector to the wellbeing of the global economy is both formidable and unarguable. The growth of our industry outstrips the growth of global GDP year after year. Yet governments continue to ignore this.”

Travel & Tourism in the Americas contributes US$2.1 trillion to GDP, supporting over 40 million jobs; accounts for 6.8% of exports and 4.9% of investment and is worth US$238 billion; is forecast to grow by 3.7% per year over the next decade, creating 11 million new jobs; directly employs three times more people than manufacturing, three times more people than the communications sector and higher education and 30% more than financial services.

Scowsill says that the outlook for the Americas is seen clearly by many of today’s global business leaders to have enormous potential. “The region embraces the world’s largest Travel & Tourism economy, namely the USA. It gives us the most tourism dependent market of the Caribbean. It contains some of the world’s most exciting growth opportunities here in Latin America.”