Global Travel Nearly Fully Recovered - But Labour Force Still Lagging: WTTC

at the airport

World tourism and travel is almost back to pre-pandemic levels, and 2024 should see travel numbers surpassing 2019 levels. However, the industry labour force isn't recovering at the same pace as traffic and spend.

The World Travel & Tourism Council’s Economic Impact Research report shows the Travel & Tourism sector has reached more than 95 per cent of its 2019 peak.

“The Travel & Tourism sector continues to recover at pace, demonstrating the resilience of the sector and the enduring desire to travel," said Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO. “By the end of the year, the sector’s contribution will be within touching distance of the 2019 peak. We expect 2024 to exceed 2019. Travel & Tourism will be a growth sector over the next ten years."

In 2023, the sector is forecast to reach $9.5 trillion (USD) in spending, just five per cent below 2019 pre-pandemic levels, when travel was at its highest. Thirty four countries around the world have already exceeded 2019 levels.

In 2021 the global sector grew 24.7 per cent year-on-year, and last year it grew a further 22 per cent to reach a GDP contribution of $7.7 trillion.

The research shows that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and prolonged travel restrictions imposed by a number of countries such as China had a significant impact on the global recovery. But the recent decision by the Chinese government to reopen its borders earlier this year will propel the sector and see it recover to pre-pandemic levels next year, it predicts.

The travel and tourism labour force is still far from recovered, however. From a pre-pandemic high of more than 334 million jobs, the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged employment in the sector, and worldwide tourism and travel jobs dropped to 264 million. Following the recovery of 11 million jobs in 2021, the sector created 21.6 million new jobs in 2022 to reach more than 295 million globally.

That's one in 11 jobs worldwide. But that's still about 40 million jobs fewer than pre-pandemic, representing only 88 per cent recovery - 7 per cent less than the recovery in travel spend.

You may also like
Carnival Corp “Outperforms on Every Measure” with Record Wave Season
Carnival Corp, which owns Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Seabourn, reported record Q1 revenues of $5.4 billion ...
World-Class Culture, Fine Wine and Mating Rhinos; South Africa Comes to Town
South Africa’s Justin Barnette, the highly entertaining head of Marketing and Communications, said the tourism team wanted to come to Toronto ...
Plane in Flight
CAPA ANALYSIS: With Lynx Gone, Canada’s Big Airlines Are Playing it Smart
A Senior Analyst, Americas, at Sydney-based CAPA - Centre for Aviation, penned a story this week that looks at how Canadian ...
JTB Invites GTA Advisors to Attend ‘Evening with Jamaica’ Event 16-17APR
The Jamaica Tourist Board is hosting two events in Toronto for GTA advisors to experience an Evening with Jamaica on 16APR ...
Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Opening Hailed as a First
The 18th resort in its portfolio, Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines held its ribbon cutting ceremony on 28MAR. For travel ...

Talk Back! Post a comment: