The travel and tourism sector directly employed a rapidly rising number of women between 2010 and pre-pandemic 2019, increasing by almost a quarter from 38.6 million to 47.8 million, new research shows.
Hospitality was found to be the leading employer of women within the sector, accounting for more than half of female employment.
The World Travel & Tourism Council report reveals that the sector employed a marginally higher share of women compared to other sectors globally in 2021 – 39.3% compared to a 39.2% average.
Women make up a larger share of travel and tourism employment than the economy-wide workforce in Asia-Pacific and the Americas.
The share of females working in the sector in Africa has been rising since 2010, and female employment across the economy in the Middle East has also grown significantly.
Young workers were shown to be an important component of the sector’s workforce, representing 15% of all jobs in the sector in both 2010 and 2021.
By contrast, the share of young workers in overall global employment fell from 16.5% in 2010 to 12.5% in 2021, highlighting the importance of travel and tourism to youth employment, according to the study.
Around a third of jobs in the global travel and tourism sector were categorised as high wage in 2021, an increase from 29.6% in 2010.
Regionally, Asia-Pacific had the largest share of high wage jobs in the sector (38.7%), followed by Africa (36.2%), and the Americas (30.6%).
WTTC president and chief executive Julia Simpson said: “For the first time ever, we can show that the sector has an incredibly positive impact globally, supporting more high wage jobs, a level playing field for women, and provides long-term, sustainable, economically attractive jobs to young people across the world.”