Global travel and tourism 'to continue to boom over next 10 years'

The US travel economy, which is the largest in the world in terms of economic output, will lose its crown to China, predicts industry group

As a whole, the travel industry will employ up to 430 million people by 2033 or roughly one of every nine jobs globally.

The crowds of travellers filling airports in many parts of the world this summer are a telltale sign of what’s ahead for tourism. By 2033, travel is set to become a $15.5trn (€14.2trn) industry — accounting for more than 11.6% of the global economy. This represents a 50% increase over its $10trn value in 2019 when travel represented 10.4% of the world’s gross domestic product.

The 10-year forecast comes from the World Travel and Tourism Council, or WTTC, the leading business group dedicated to quantifying the industry’s economic impact. Although it was released in May as part of a 2023 World Economic Impact report on travel, the data hasn’t circulated beyond a small set of industry executives until now.