Citing a faster-than-expected economic recovery, especially in Asia, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has revised its 2010 annual forecast to reflect a more robust rebound in international travel and tourism, it announced last week.
According to its revised projections, WTTC expects a 2 percent increase this year in global travel and tourism economy real GDP, up from 0.5 percent in its previous forecast, released in January. As such, travel and tourism's share of total GDP and investment will increase by 1 percentage point, compared to WTTC's first forecast. The result: Travel and tourism will create an extra 946,000 jobs worldwide.
"The longer-term prospects for travel and tourism remain positive, boosted by rising prosperity in Asia," WTTC President and CEO Jean-Claude Baumgarten said in a statement. "WTTC remains confident travel and tourism will remain a dynamic force for wealth and job creation."
Despite its encouraging revisions, WTTC says expenditures on travel and tourism are still well below their 2008 peak, and the pace of recovery in 2011 is likely to be slower than previously expected — although growth in the years ahead remains strong.
"Over the next 10 years, WTTC forecasts that the global travel and tourism economy will grow by 4.3 percent per year, implying its share of the global economy will rise to just over 10 percent," Baumgarten continued. "This will help create an additional 66 million jobs by 2020 — 50 million of which [will be] in Asia — acting as a key driver of poverty reduction."
Experiencing the strongest growth in travel and tourism this year, according to WTTC, are China, India and Japan. Weakest, meanwhile, is Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany. In the United States, WTTC says, recovery in 2010 has been "dragged back by very weak investment and business travel," although long-term growth prospects for domestic and inbound arrivals are "optimistic."