Governments told to wake up to value of travel and tourism

The call came from World Travel & Tourism Council chief executive and president David Scowsill who warned that the lack of recognition continues to hinder the sector’s growth.

Bad decisions will continue to be made on visas, taxation and infrastructure development, unless government departments start recognising the importance of the sector and co-ordinate on policies, he said.

“The financial contribution of our sector to the wellbeing of the global economy is both formidable and unarguable.

“The growth of our industry outstrips the growth of global GDP year after year. Yet governments continue to ignore this,” he told delegates at the WTTC’s regional Americas Summit in Lima.

“The region embraces the world’s largest travel and tourism economy, namely the USA. It gives us the most tourism dependent market of the Caribbean. It contains some of the world’s most exciting growth opportunities here in Latin America.”

He added: “Whether partnership is between government and business; investors and beneficiaries; industry and environment; or technology and service providers; I firmly believe that partnership is key to everything we need to achieve.”

According to the WTTC travel and tourism in the Americas:

• contributes US$2.1 trillion to GDP, supporting over 40 million jobs.
• accounts for 6.8 per cent of exports  and 4.9% of investment and is worth $238 billion
• is forecast to grow by 3.7% per year over the next decade, creating 11 million new jobs.
• directly employs three times more people than manufacturing, three times more people than the communications sector and higher education and 30% more than financial services.