The World Economic Forum has, for the past seven years, engaged key industry and thought leaders through its Aviation, Travel & Tourism Industry Partnership Programmed, along with its Global Agenda Council on New Models for Travel & Tourism, to carry out an in-depth analysis of the T&T competitiveness of economies around the world. The resulting Travel &Tourism Competitiveness Report provides a platform formulate-stakeholder dialogue to ensure the development of strong and sustainable T&T industries capable of contributing effectively to international economic development. The theme of this year’s Report, “Reducing Barriers to Economic Growth and Job Creation,” reflects the importance of the sector for this purpose.
Encouraging the development of the Travel &Tourism (T&T) sector is all the more important today given its important role in job creation, at a time when many countries are suffering from high unemployment. The sector already accounts for 9 percent of GDP, a total of US$6 trillion, and it provides 120 million direct jobs and another 125 million indirect jobs in related industries. This means that the industry now accounts for one in eleven jobs on the planet, a number that could even rise to one in ten jobs by 2022, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.
The Travel & Tourism (T&T) industry has managed to remain relatively resilient over the recent year despite the uncertain global economic outlook, which has been characterized by fragile global economic growth, macroeconomic tensions, and high unemployment in many countries. Indeed, the sector has benefitted from the continuing globalization process: travel has been increasing in mature markets and, particularly, has been driven by the rising purchasing power of the growing middle class in many developing economies. The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) described in Chapter 1.1 measures a variety of criteria that enable the competitiveness of economies in driving inbound tourism growth—including natural scenery; proper, well-maintained infrastructure; and sound, open-market policies. Some factors qualify a country only to compete for tourists, while others create true differentiation among potential destinations to achieve long-term attractiveness for foreign visitors. The building blocks of any tourism destination are assets such as natural scenery and cultural heritage as well as properly functioning infrastructure that allow travelers to access a country and move comfortably within it.
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