The World Economic Forum has, for the past seven years, engaged key industry and thought leaders through its Aviation, Travel & Tourism Industry Partnership Programmed, along with its Global Agenda Council on New Models for Travel & Tourism, to carry out an in-depth analysis of the T&T competitiveness of economies around the world. The resulting Travel &Tourism Competitiveness Report provides a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue to ensure the development of strong and sustainable T&T industries capable of contributing effectively to international economic development. The theme of this year's Report, "Reducing Barriers to Economic Growth and Job Creation," reflects the importance of the sector for this purpose.
Encouraging the development of the Travel &Tourism (T&T) sector is all the more important today given its important role in job creation, at a time when many countries are suffering from high unemployment. The sector already accounts for 9 percent of GDP, a total of US$6 trillion, and it provides 120 million direct jobs and another 125 million indirect jobs in related industries. This means that the industry now accounts for one in eleven jobs on the planet, a number that could even rise to one in ten jobs by 2022, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. Yet despite these many positive developments, the need for greater openness remains one of the major trends impacting the T&T sector, especially with regard to the freer movement of people. The importance of efforts in this area has been highlighted specifically by the G20 Los Cabos communiqu© in June 2012, in which the group recognized the importance of tourism "as a vehicle for job creation, economic growth and development" and furthermore committed to "work towards developing travel facilitation initiatives in support of job creation, quality work, poverty reduction and global growth.
The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013 could not have been put together without the distinguished thinkers who have shared with us their knowledge and experience. We are grateful to our Strategic Design Partner Booz & Company, and our Data Partners Deloitte, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) for helping us to design and develop the TTCI and for providing much of the industry-relevant data used in its calculation. We thank our Industry Partners in this Report. Bahrain Economic Development Board, Bombardier, Delta, Deutsche Lufthansa/Swiss, Embraer, Etihad Airways, Jet Airways, Hilton, Lockheed Martin, Marriott,Safran, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and VISA for their support in this important venture. Although developing the T&T sector provides many benefits, numerous obstacles at the national level continue to hinder its development. For this reason, seven years ago the World Economic Forum, together with its Industry and Data Partners, embarked on a multi-year research effort aimed at exploring various issues related to the T&T competitiveness of countries around the world. This year's Report is published under the theme "Reducing Barriers to Economic Growth and Job Creation," which reflects the forward-looking attitude of the sector as it aims to ensure strong growth going.
Encouraging the development of the Travel &Tourism (T&T) sector is all the more important today given its important role in job creation, at a time when many countries are suffering from high unemployment. The sector already accounts for 9 percent of GDP, a total of US$6 trillion, and it provides 120 million direct jobs and another 125 million indirect jobs in related industries. This means that the industry now accounts for one in eleven jobs on the planet, a number that could even rise to one in ten jobs by 2022, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. Yet despite these many positive developments, the need for greater openness remains one of the major trends impacting the T&T sector, especially with regard to the freer movement of people. The importance of efforts in this area has been highlighted specifically by the G20 Los Cabos communiqu© in June 2012, in which the group recognized the importance of tourism "as a vehicle for job creation, economic growth and development" and furthermore committed to "work towards developing travel facilitation initiatives in support of job creation, quality work, poverty reduction and global growth.
The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013 could not have been put together without the distinguished thinkers who have shared with us their knowledge and experience. We are grateful to our Strategic Design Partner Booz & Company, and our Data Partners Deloitte, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) for helping us to design and develop the TTCI and for providing much of the industry-relevant data used in its calculation. We thank our Industry Partners in this Report. Bahrain Economic Development Board, Bombardier, Delta, Deutsche Lufthansa/Swiss, Embraer, Etihad Airways, Jet Airways, Hilton, Lockheed Martin, Marriott,Safran, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and VISA for their support in this important venture. Although developing the T&T sector provides many benefits, numerous obstacles at the national level continue to hinder its development. For this reason, seven years ago the World Economic Forum, together with its Industry and Data Partners, embarked on a multi-year research effort aimed at exploring various issues related to the T&T competitiveness of countries around the world. This year's Report is published under the theme "Reducing Barriers to Economic Growth and Job Creation," which reflects the forward-looking attitude of the sector as it aims to ensure strong growth going.