World Travel and Tourism Council in collaboration with Oxford Economics, STR, and Forward Keys recently released its Travel and Tourism Economic
Impact 2020 for the Asia Pacific, South Asia, and India, which quantifies the economic and employment impact of travel and tourism. The annual report was extracted post a detailed survey which covered 185 countries and 25 regions of the world. The Council believes that the correct government support and policies can result in significant job creations, eradicate poverty, result in economic growth, and upgrade infrastructure.
The key highlights of the Travel and Tourism Economic Impact 2020 for the Asia Pacific mentioned that the travel and tourism industry grew by 3.5% and the sector contributed to 10.3% of the total Asia Pacific GDP region. The travel and tourism industry contributes 182.2 million jobs in the region. The report further added that 81% of travelers displayed characteristics of leisure spending, whereas 74% of travelers were domestic tourists.
Concerning its research in the South Asia region, the study concluded that 1 in 4 new jobs was created by the travel and tour industry in the last five years; this has resulted in 47.7 million jobs created in total. The highest outbound departure was to Saudi Arabia as part of its state-driven ‘Vision 2030’ which features revised visa policies for international leisure tourism. Furthermore, visitors spend US$40.3 billion while traveling to other countries in the region.
For India, the report featured the following findings:
- The travel and tourism industry contributed to 6.8% of the total economy amounting to INR.16,681 billion.
- It generated 39,82,18,000 jobs which translate to 8.0% of the total employment of the Indian economy.
- INR 2,130.5 billion were spent in visitor spend
- Significant inbound arrivals to India were from Bangladesh (12%)
- Whereas a majority of Indians traveled to the United Arab Emirates (13%)
- 94% of Indians exhibited leisure spending and 83% of this was on domestic spending.
- India ranked 10th in the world in terms of the nation’s travel and tourism sector contributing to the GDP
- Additionally, India’s travel and tourism sector’s contribution to generating employment ranked second after China.
WTTC’s report attributed these figures to several countries deciding to revise their visa policies, the continued rise in middle-class households, low unemployment rates, countries’ attractiveness as a destination, and the strength of the nation’s currency.
To access the detailed reports please visit https://wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact.
