According to an optimistic forecast by the World Travel and Tourism Council, 126 million new travel and tourism jobs will be created by the end of the decade, representing one in three of all new jobs globally. Jenny Southan reporting
With travel recovery now well underway, WTTC expects tourism figures to return to 2019 levels by 2023, making it a major driver of global economic recovery and job creation .
The WTTC projects that travel and tourism GDP is expected to grow at an average rate of 5.8% per year between 2022 and 2032, outpacing the 2.7% growth rate of the global economy, to reach $14.6 trillion. dollars (11.3% of the world total). economy).
It also forecasts that travel and tourism GDP could reach pre-pandemic levels by 2023 – just 0.1% below 2019 levels. The sector’s contribution to GDP is expected to increase massively by 43%, 7% to nearly US$8.4 trillion by the end of 2022, or 8.5% of total global economic GDP, just 13.3% below 2019 levels.
This will be accompanied by an increase in employment in travel and tourism, which is expected to approach 2019 levels in 2023, only 2.7% below.
Julia Simpson, President and CEO of WTTC, said: “Over the next decade, travel and tourism will create 126 million new jobs worldwide. In fact, one in three new jobs will be related to our sector.
“Looking forward to this year and next, the WTTC predicts a brighter future, with GDP and employment expected to reach pre-pandemic levels by next year.
“Recovery in 2021 has been slower than expected partly due 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, who argued that closing borders would not stop the spread of the virus, but would only serve to harm economies and livelihoods.
Looking back a year, the WTTC also revealed that 2021 saw the start of the recovery for the global travel and tourism sector. Its contribution to GDP soared 21.7% year-over-year to more than US$5.8 trillion.
Before the pandemic, the travel and tourism sector’s contribution to GDP was 10.3% (US$9.6 trillion) in 2019, falling to 5.3% (nearly US$4.8 trillion) in 2020 when the pandemic was at its peak, which was a staggering 50 percent loss.
The sector has seen a recovery of more than 18 million travel and tourism jobs worldwide, representing a positive increase of 6.7% in 2021.
The sector’s contribution to the global economy and jobs would have been higher had it not been for the impact of the Omicron variant, which has rocked the recovery around the world, with many countries reinstating severe travel restrictions.
The 2022 WTTC EIR report also shows that travel and tourism GDP is expected to jump by an average annual rate of 5.8% over the next decade.
This compares to the more modest average annual growth rate of 2.7% for the global economy over the same period.
Global travel and tourism employment is expected to grow by 3.5% in 2022, accounting for 9.1% of the global job market, 10% below 2019 levels.
