Based on the latest World Travel Tourism Council (WWTC) data, the world travel and tourism industry contributed 319 million jobs last year worldwide, having created 1 out of 5 new jobs overall in recent years, with forecasts for the next decade projecting an additional 100 million new jobs.
The figures for WWTC are also encouraging for Greece, given that it estimates that in the next decade the industry will create some 332,000 direct and indirect new jobs in the country.

More specifically, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s annual survey of the economic impact and importance of the industry for society, the global tourism and travel industry increased by 3,9% in 2018, contributing 8,8 trillion dollars and 319 million jobs in the global economy and for the eighth consecutive year, its performance was above the rate of the global GDP growth rate.

Research has been conducted over the past 25 years by the WWTC and for 2018 it appears that the industry:

– Is responsible for 10.44% of global economic activity

– Contributes with 319 million jobs – 1 out of 10 international positions

– Is responsible for creating 1 in 5 new jobs internationally over the past five years

– Is the second fastest growing sector in the world, ahead of health (+ 3.1%), IT (+ 1.7%) and financial services (+ 1.7%). The tourism and travel sector is currently only behind the industry (4% rise).

– The increase in international tourists’ spending.

For Greece, forecasts over the next decade are extremely encouraging considering that the total contribution of tourism (direct and indirect) to the country’s GDP by 2028 is estimated to reach 52.8 billion euros from 35 billion euros, (EUR 14.5 billion was the direct contribution of the industry in 2017 which those to EUR 16.1 billion in 2018 on the basis of the figures for tourism receipts published by the Bank of Greece).