By Andrew Gibson
At the ATTC 12th Global summit in Japan the WTTC announced that the Travel and Tourism Industry, as measured globally, is double the size of automotive manufacturing and one third larger than chemical manufacturing. This is a fantastic result.
The specific amount that the industry contributes to world GDP is US$2 trillion which is effectively 2.8% of GDP. This is more than double the amount that automotive manufacturing contributes. It is equivalent to global education and communications sectors but half that of banking and financial services.
The president and CEO of WTTC, David Scowsill explained that these are extraordinary results. He explained that although they have always been aware that travel and tourism was a significant market sector in the world the figures show just how very important it is. He went on to say that it shows that the industry is very important in the world recovery. The figures also showed that after education it created the most jobs in 2011 which was twice as many as the financial sector. He explained that this was a very positive thing, especially how it had been able to create jobs throughout the world, not just in one area. In 2011 it sustained 1 in 12 jobs throughout the world. In Japan it generates 80% more jobs than automotive manufacturing and so the growth there has been massive. The research was carried out by Oxford economics and refers to 2011 comparing it to the previous year.
