Tourism: Travel-trade boom set to continue

World-wide travel and tourism will create one new job every 2.4 seconds over the next decade, according to a report today from the London-based World Travel and Tourism Council.

At present, 262 million are employed in travel and tourism - more than 10 per cent of the global workforce - and this figure is expected to rise to 383 million by 2007.

In the European Union, there are approximately 19 million travel-related jobs, representing 12.8 per cent of the workforce, while in eastern Europe the number of travel jobs is expected to jump 37 per cent over the next decade, creating employment for nearly 6 million people.

Spain has almost 18 per cent of its overall employment driven by travel and tourism, while the figure for the Caribbean is as high as 25 per cent. At present, the Asia/Pacific area generates the most travel and tourism jobs - 173 million - and it is forecast that more than 80 per cent of the new travel jobs will be created in this Far East region.

The report also estimates that the industry will this year contribute 10.7 per cent to the world's gross domestic product.