The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates that Italy’s Travel and Tourism sector will significantly boost the country’s economic recovery, and the same could almost reach pre-pandemic levels next year, just 0.3% below the levels of 2019. The WTTC’s recent Economic Impact Report (EIR) also shows that the sector’s contribution to GDP next year could reach more than EUR 194 billion. In contrast, employment in the sector could hit pre-pandemic levels, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports. In addition, the report from the global tourism body reveals that for the next ten years, the Travel and Tourism sector in Italy will grow at an average annual rate of 2.5%, which means five times the growth rate of 0.5 % of the overall economy of the country. Meanwhile, by 2032 it will be over EUR 226 billion. The forecast has also shown that Italy’s Travel and Tourism sector is expected to create more than half a million or 533,000 jobs in the next ten years, averaging more than 53,000 new jobs each year.
The sector’s contribution to GDP in 2022 is expected to increase by 8.7% to more than 176 billion euros, representing 9.6% of total economic GDP. In terms of employment in this sector, it is expected to increase by 2% to reach almost 2.7 million jobs. In this regard, WTTC President and CEO Julia Simpson said the pandemic caused quite some damage to Italy’s Travel and Tourism sector, wiping out billions from the economy as businesses collapsed and thousands lost their jobs. “After two very difficult years, the outlook is now much brighter. Travel & Tourism’s projections provide a massive boost, not only to Italy’s overall economy but to the creation of new jobs,” she also noted.
Before the pandemic started, the total contribution to GDP was 10.6 %or 194.8 billion, thus falling to only 6.1% or otherwise 102.6 billion in 2020, representing a painful loss of 47.3 %. In addition, the sector supported nearly EUR 2.9 million jobs before the almost complete cessation of international travel resulted in a loss of more than 400,000 or 15.4%, to reach just over 2.4 million in 2020. However, in 2021, its contribution to GDP increased by 58.5% year on year to reach EUR 162.6 billion, while employment in this sector increased by 9.4%, thus gaining more than 2.6 million. Moreover, the recent WTTC EIR Report has also revealed that France’s Travel and Tourism sector may surpass pre-pandemic levels next year, projected to grow 2.2% above 2019 levels. According to the report, 2019 levels are expected to exceed employment within the sector, thus creating almost 90,000 additional jobs, representing nearly 2.8 million by the end of next year.
