United States’ Travel & Tourism sector directly generates nearly six times more jobs than automotive manufacturing, according to a new research report from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

Launched today at the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) Annual Convention in Austin, Texas, the Benchmarking Report 2015 compares Travel & Tourism to eight sectors in the United States, which are considered having similar breadth and presence.

In the US, Travel & Tourism directly sustained 5.3 million jobs in 2014, which is almost six times the size of automotive manufacturing (907,000); and bigger than banking (2.7 million), mining (960,000) and automotive manufacturing combined.

In total, when measuring the direct, indirect, and induced impact, the Travel & Tourism sector supported 13.7 million jobs or 9.3% of total employment in the US in 2014.

Out of the eight researched sectors, Travel & Tourism is the second biggest job generator in the US, supporting 18 jobs for every US$1 million spent �" larger than the economy average of 16 jobs per $1 million in spending.

Travel & Tourism produced 8% of the US’ GDP in 2014, generating a total impact of $US1.4 trillion, which is more than each of education, agriculture and automotive manufacturing contributed.

The sector’s contribution to GDP is estimated to grow at an annual average of 4.4% over the next ten years and will outpace the total economy, which is forecast to increase by 2.3% per annum over the next decade.

David Scowsill, President & CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), said: 

“This report confirms the importance of Travel & Tourism to the US economy, generating over 9.3% of the country’s employment and 8% of its GDP. It is of great importance that the US keeps on investing in infrastructure and human capital to sustain the demand for expansion and talent in the Travel & Tourism sector and continues its great efforts on visa facilitation. I am extremely pleased that our annual Global Summit 2016 will take place in Dallas, where we will continue to discuss the challenges and celebrate the importance of our sector in the US and beyond.”