TRAVEL and tourism is a major contributor to job creation and poverty alleviation, according to The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), members of which meet in Florianópolis, Brazil, on May 15 and 16 for the 9th annual Global Travel & Tourism Summit.
This was “a fact that policy makers would do well to recognise and take into account in their short to medium term strategies,” said Jean-Claude Baumgarten, WTTC president and CEO.
While the industry was not expecting a bail-out, Baumgarten felt it needed a supportive framework from government to help it weather the current storm. “And governments would also do well to recognise travel and tourism’s potential to energise the economy once the current crisis eases,” he said.
Overall, the travel and tourism economy is forecast to grow by four per cent per annum in real terms over the next 10 years. By 2019, travel and tourism will account for 275 million jobs, representing 8.4 per cent of total employment across the world.
“Emerging economies are expected to be the main engines of growth,” said Baumgarten, “generating hundreds of millions of new travellers from among the growing middle classes in countries like China, India and Brazil - boosting international travel, but also creating an increasingly vibrant domestic tourism sector.”
The general trend expected in developed countries was for increasing priority to be given to leisure activities and demand for travel to existing and new tourism destinations once consumers regain confidence, while the popularity of short breaks - both domestic and international - will continue to expand in the medium to longer term.
Members of the WTTC are chairs and chief executives of the world’s 100 foremost travel and tourism companies. They will be congregating at the summit in the state of Santa Catarina to discuss global issues under the theme ‘Real Partnerships - Energising Economies’.
This public-private partnership will bring together national, state and local governments from Brazil and other parts of the world, together with leaders of the private sector from every continent.
Speakers include Geoffrey Kent, Abercrombie & Kent Group of Companies; Jean-Claude Baumgarten WTTC; Jeff Clarke, Travelport; Peter Greenberg, NBC Today Show; Deepak Ohri, lebua Hotels & Resorts; Jeanine Pires, Embratur; Christopher Rodrigues CBE, VisitBritain; John Walker, Oxford Economics; and Howard Rosenberg, Pulitzer Prize winning former television critic and author of No Time to Think.