Page 12 - TFWA World Exhibit 2022 Special Edition

INSIDER

WTTC: Domestic travel helped U.S. retain its position as the

world’s biggest Travel & Tourism market

The latest World Travel & Tourism 11th position in 2021. grow more than 41% this year. For the next
Council’s Economic Trends Report, Across Asia-Pacific, major Travel 10 years, it predicts business travel could
released Sept. 6 and conducted by Oxford & Tourism markets saw huge losses grow an average of 5.5% annually and may
Economics, ranks the U.S. as the world’s in international spending. In addition return faster in the Asia-Pacific region.
biggest and most powerful Travel & to China, countries like Thailand and WTTC predicts by 2032, China will
Tourism market by GDP contribution. Japan, which ranked fifth and eighth in overtake the U.S. to become the world’s
But WTTC notes that the rankings international visitor spending before the biggest Travel & Tourism market.
in the U.S., like other top economies, pandemic, fell out of the top 20 altogether The research shows China’s Travel &
are bolstered through high numbers of in 2021. Tourism contribution to GDP could reach
domestic travel, as international visitor $3.9 trillion by 2032, making it the world’s
numbers plummeted. Business Travel and China growth most powerful Travel & Tourism market,
Despite its number one position, the outlook is positive and India could leapfrog Germany to reach
U.S. Travel & Tourism’s contribution to According to WTTC’s forecasts, third place with a projected value of $457
the U.S. economy fell by $700 billion from worldwide business travel is expected to billion.
2019, to just under $1.3 trillion last year.
WTTC ranks China second and
Germany third for sector GDP con-
tributions, representing no change in
ranking since 2019. However, total sector
economic contribution in both countries
declined versus 2019.
China contributed more than $814
billion to the Chinese GDP last year
(vs. $1.86 trillion in 2019); Germany’s
contributions to its economy were $251
billion compared with over $391 billion in
2019.
The UK slipped dramatically from
fifth place in 2019 to ninth in 2021, with a
contribution of just over $157 billion, the
biggest fall among the top 10 countries.
Julia Simpson, WTTC President
& CEO, said that the report shows the
resilience of the Travel & Tourism sector.
“Despite a challenging macro
environment, Travel & Tourism has
bounced back. The world, with some
exceptions, is traveling again. And we are Thw chart above compares the contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP against the 2019 level.
seeing a resurgence in business travel. Over For instance, the sector’s contribution to GDP in Europe was 47.1% below the pre-pandemic level
the next 10 years, Travel & Tourism growth in 2020, and the gap reduced to 32.3% below 2019’s level in 2021, showing a strong rebound. It is
will outstrip the overall growth rate of the estimated that the sector’s performance in Europe could surpass 2019’s level in 2024 when Travel
global economy.” & Tourism contribution to the region’s GDP could reach 4.1% above the pre-pandemic amount.
Asia-Pacific is forecasted to be the first region to revert to the 2019 scenario (in 2023), while all the
International visitor spending other regions are estimated to recover completely in 2024.
In terms of international traveler In 2022, as travelers’ confidence improves, the global Travel & Tourism sector is estimated to
spend, France, which was ranked fourth hasten its pace of recovery to 43.7% compared to 2021 and add a further 10 million jobs. WTTC
before the pandemic, overtook Spain, says that the sector is likely to return to pre-pandemic levels around the end of 2023 and the
China, and the U.S. to grab first place. preliminary data for the first half of 2022 supports this forecast.
China, which remains closed to much Looking at a longer-term forecast, between 2022 and 2032, Travel & Tourism’s contribution to the
of the rest of the world, was in second global economy is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 5.8% which is more than double
the 2.7% average annual growth rate estimated for the global economy. In that same period, the
place for international visitor spending sector is forecasted to generate 126 million additional jobs.
before the pandemic but fell dramatically to

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