Over the last decade, tourism has become one of the most thriving sectors of the global economy. This industry provides millions of jobs all over the world and it has turned into the basic revenue source for many countries. A new study conducted by the World and Travel Tourism Council, however, reveals something very interesting. According to the research, the travel sector is most successful in the East.
WTTC’s study predicts that Asia, the Middle East and West Africa will win the most out of this trend. Also, the study points which are the fastest growing countries in terms of tourism and travel. WTTC’s Economic Impact Research is based on various statistics on employment growth, investment, GDP contribution, business and leisure travel growth and others.
The leading positions on the list are occupied by Qatar and Azerbaijan. Qatar is enjoying 28.3% of direct contribution of the travel and tourism sector to its GDP. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, is following right behind with its 24.8% of GDP from the industry. This growth can be explained with the flourishing construction, oil and natural gas sectors in the two states. In addition, Qatar is shining with its geopolitical activities which bring it closer to other countries.
Kyrgyzstan takes the third spot with 24%. The mining rise there is giving the country more power and resourced to with which to lure new travellers. Similar is the case with Mongolia which is situated further down the ranking.
The top five list is completed by Tunisia and Montenegro. In comparison to the first three countries, these two states managed to accumulate fewer than 15% of GPD from travel and tourism.
Even though, the travel sector of Jordan was greatly affected by the turmoil in neighboring regions, the Arab country found a place in the top 10 of fastest growing countries in travel and tourism.
The United Arab Emirates also did well on the ranking. WTTC lists the country on the 17th place. According to the Economic Impact Research, the tourism sector managed to directly contribute $24.4 billion to the country’s GDP. More than 77% of that number came from leisure tourism. Also, foreign travellers were 55% more than the local ones. All in all, that is way above the average level. In addition, the tourism-related job positions in the UAE are predicted to mark an impressive rise this year. The WTTC expects that in 2013 about 393,500 people to be employed in the industry. That is 10,000 more compared to 2012. If this trend continues, the number will hit 575,000 jobs in only one decade.
Also, the Economic Impact Research has found some of the reasons behind the rise of tourism on a global level. The main one is that countries are now making their way out of the 2008/2009 global recession. Another factor that affected the growth is that people today were found to prefer to make international trips instead of domestic ones. Nevertheless, the rise in the sector is still very surprising given that the economies in the world are slowing down.
Here are the top 10 fastest growing countries for travel and tourism:
- Qatar
- Azerbaijan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Tunisia
- Montenegro
- Uzbekistan
- Kazakhstan
- Belarus
- Chile
- Jordan
