At the end of 2023, The sector is expected to contribute ₹319.5 billion to the regional economy That is, 1.2% more than the 2019 report. In this way, the sector would represent 7.9% of the regional economy and provide more than 17 million jobs.
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), through its annual Economic Impact Report (EIR), reports that the region’s economic contribution to Latin America’s GDP this year will exceed the level of the pandemic, as it will contribute 319.5 billion . dollar to the regional economy, ie up 1.2% from 2019.
Similarly, by the end of 2023, the employment level in the sector is projected to reach 17.07 million jobs captured by the tourism sector, and with this, the 2019 figure will be exceeded by 0.1%.
According to the same report, it is estimated that by the end of 2023, the Latin American tourism sector will represent 7.9% of its total economy.
It should be noted that in 2022 the sector is expected to contribute 7.6% of Latin America’s GDP, contributing $302.6 billion to the Latin American economy, a 34% increase over the previous year.
In addition, it contributed about 16.4 million jobs, i.e. 7.7% of the total jobs in this sector. This figure shows an increase of 17.7% compared to 2021.
Julia Simpson WTTC President and CEO said: “The Latin American travel and tourism sector continues its recovery, demonstrating its resilience and people’s enduring desire to travel.
“By the end of the year, the sector’s contribution to the regional economy will exceed 2019 levels. We expect 2023 to be the year of the sector’s long-awaited recovery in Latin America” Julia Simpson highlighted.
The same report shows that in 2022, foreign visitor spending was expected to reach $50.8 billion, a nearly 130% increase over 2021. Similarly, domestic tourism spending increased by 26.7% to over $181 billion.
Globally, despite economic and geopolitical difficulties, the travel and tourism sector continued to recover slowly in 2022, with it managing to grow by 22% compared to 2021, in its contribution to GDP reached $7.7 trillion.
As a result of this recovery, the sector accounted for 7.6% of the global economy in 2022, the industry’s largest contribution since 2019, although its contribution to global GDP was still 22.9% below that year’s levels.
Due to the pandemic, more than 71 million jobs were lost in this sector across the world. However, thanks to the gradual improvement in travel, it was possible to reach 295 million jobs in 2022, i.e. one in 11 jobs worldwide.
It should be noted that 34 of the 185 countries analyzed have already crossed pre-pandemic levels in terms of their contribution to GDP. Furthermore, according to research conducted by WTTC in collaboration with Oxford Economics, the global travel sector is also forecasting a 96% recovery in its employment levels compared to 2019, with 24 million new jobs to be created this year.
The WTTC estimates that by the end of 2023, nearly half of the 185 countries will have fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels or be within 95% of fully recovered.
