The Italy travel and tourism will see a significant boost this year and could almost reach pre-pandemic levels in 2023, just 0,3% below 2019 levels.
The data are from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), based on the latest Economic Impact Report (EIR), which shows that the sector's contribution to GDP could reach more than €194 billion in 2023, while job vacancies in the sector could already reach pre-pandemic levels.
The report also reveals that the travel and tourism sector will grow at an average annual rate of 2,5% over the next 10 years, five times more than the 0,5% growth rate of the Italian economy in general, and will be worth more of €226 billion by 2032.
The forecast also reveals that the sector is expected to create more than half a million jobs over the next 10 years, with an average of more than 53 thousand new jobs each year.
In 2022, the sector's contribution to GDP is expected to grow by 8,7% to more than 176 billion euros, representing 9,6% of the economy's total GDP, while employment in the sector is expected to grow 2% to reach almost 2,7 million vacancies.
“The pandemic was catastrophic for Italy’s travel and tourism sector, wiping billions from the economy as businesses collapsed and thousands of people lost their jobs,” said Julia Simpson, president and CEO of WTTC.
“After two very difficult years, the prospects are now much better. The projections provide a major boost, not only for Italy's overall economy, but also for the creation of new jobs.”
Before the pandemic, tourism's total contribution to GDP was 10,6% (€194,8 billion) in 2019, falling to just 6,1% (€102,6 billion) in 2020, representing a loss of 47,3 .XNUMX%.
The sector also had almost 2,9 million empregos, before an almost complete halt to international travel resulted in a loss of more than 400 jobs (15,4%), reaching just over 2,4 million in 2020. (By Pedro Meneses / Market and Events)
