by Donald Wood
Last updated: 7:50 AM ET, Tue September 3, 2024
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 industry's contribution to global GDP in 2024 will
increase 12.1 percent year-over-year to $11.1 trillion, making up 10 percent of
global GDP.
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. There are currently around one million job openings
across the leisure and hospitality industry in the United States.
In 2023, the travel industry in the U.S. supported about 27
million jobs.
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.
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