GLOBAL: Tourism growth outperforms global economy in 2012

The tourism industry has outperformed the global economy in 2012 - growing faster than manufacturing, retail, financial services and communications- says the ‘Economic Impact of Travel & Tourism 2013’ report from WTCC.

Tourism has grown its total contribution to GDP by 3% cent and increased the number of jobs by 5 million to 260 million. It means that, for the first time, one in 11 of all jobs in the world are now supported by tourism. More than 10% of all new jobs created in 2012 were from the industry.

Medical tourism is still a very small niche sector within this global industry and it is easy to forget how relatively unimportant it is compared to rivals such as religious tourism, wellness tourism, environmental tourism and holiday tourism.

According to research from the World Travel & Tourism Council, in 2012, tourism’s total economic contribution - taking account of its direct, indirect and induced impacts - was US$6.6 trillion in GDP. This is a rise of US$500 billion year-on-year.

Tourism supports US$765 billion in investment and US$1.2 trillion in exports. This represents 9% of total GDP, 5% of total investment and 5% of world exports.

Among the 20 largest global economies, South Korea, China, South Africa and Indonesia performed best. Growth of less than 1% in Europe and 2% in the USA was counter-balanced by 10% growth in South Korea, 7% in China, 7% in South Africa and 6% in Indonesia. These countries are all expected to grow during 2013, along with Japan, Brazil, and India. Africa and Latin American will also grow quicker than Europe or North America. Successful destination countries will be those that have an infrastructure, facilities and attitude to welcome overseas travellers-particularly the middle class Asian ones who want a good standard of travel, accommodation and destination. WTTC forecasts that China will overtake the USA to be the world’s biggest travel and tourism economy by 2023.

For more than 20 years, with research partner Oxford Economics, WTTC has produced comprehensive economic reports on an annual basis, with updates and special reports to quantify, compare and forecast the economic impact of travel and tourism on 184 economies and 24 regions around the world.

WTTC predicts the tourism industry will expand its total contribution to GDP by 3.2 % in 2013, faster than the 2.4 % predicted for global economic growth. The industry is expected to support nearly 266 million jobs in 2013 and again outperform many other industries.

David Scowsill of WTCC says, “2012 demonstrated again just how resilient the tourism industry is. Despite many economic difficulties, last year, for the first time, we saw more than one billion international travellers pass through the world’s ports, airports, roads and railway stations for the first time. This industry is an important driver for countries’ economic development and growth strategies. Our industry is responsible for creating jobs, lifting people out of poverty, and broadening horizons. But we need international institutions and governments to recognise its strength, to remove restrictive visa and tax regimes and to work with the private sector to stimulate that growth.”

Medical tourism has to take notice of where tourism is growing, and accept that as part of a growing industry it must learn from other sectors of the travel business. ?

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