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New data from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) found that the travel industry’s contribution to the global gross domestic product (GDP) had reached record-setting levels.
According to Reuters.com, WTTC officials said the travel industry’s contribution to global GDP in 2024 will increase 12.1 percent year-over-year to $11.1 trillion, making up a record 10 percent of global GDP, as people briskly book hotels, cruises and flights, according to an annual report by the World Travel and Tourism Council, a non-profit membership organization.
The travel and tourism industry’s contribution to global gross domestic product is expected to reach new heights as consumers increasingly see travel as an essential part of their budgets.
The 2024 total represents about a 7.5 percent increase from the previous record set in 2019.
“Despite some concerns last year about us going into a global recession and high inflation, this year we are looking at travel and tourism being a real economic powerhouse globally,” WTTC CEO Julia Simpson said.
The WTTC data also found that the travel industry is expected to support nearly 348 million jobs in 2024, or 13.6 million more than the record set in 2019.
In the United States, there are currently 1 million job openings across the leisure and hospitality industry, according to the U.S. Travel Association. Total employment supported in the U.S. was about 27 million jobs in 2023, according to the WTTC.
As for the countries that contributed the most to the travel sector’s impact on the global GDP, WTTC data found that the U.S., Chinese and German economies topped the list.
This article originally appeared in TravelPulse.
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