Major research conducted by World Travel & Tourism Council has revealed Travel & Tourism as the driving force behind Italy’s economy, despite the government’s budget deficit, growing more than 3% in 2018, ahead of the overall economy growth rate of almost 1%.*/**

The ‘Benchmarking’ study from WTTC, compares the industry’s economic impact to eight other key sectors (Agriculture, Mining, Health, Automotive Manufacturing, Retail, Financial Services, Banking and Construction), across 26 countries and 10 world regions.

The report, sponsored by American Express, reveals that in Italy, of the sectors studied, Travel & Tourism contributed €232bn to the nation’s economy last year and is the second largest sector in terms of GDP contribution (13.2%), ahead of Construction (11.4%) and Health (11.2%), and just behind Retail (14.4%).

During 2018, the sector was also the second largest contributor in terms of employment (14.9%), up from fourth position in 2010.

The Global Picture Accounting for 10.4% (US$ 8.8 trillion) of total global GDP in 2018, Travel & Tourism’s contribution to GDP was 1.4 times higher than Agriculture (7.7% contribution), 1.5 times higher than Banking (7.1% contribution) and Automotive Manufacturing (6.8% contribution) and 1.7 times higher than Mining (6.0% contribution).

Among those analysed, Travel & Tourism was the fastest growing sector in 2018, increasing 3.9%, ahead of Automotive manufacturing (3.7%) and Health (3.3%), and higher than the global economy growth rate (3.2%) for the eighth consecutive year.

Strong growth in Travel & Tourism is driven by the continued rise in the number of middle-class households, solid growth in global consumer spending, low unemployment rates, continued rebound from security threats, currency depreciation and visa relaxation in several countries around the world.

Meanwhile, Travel & Tourism contributes 319 million jobs (10% of all jobs) to global employment, ahead of Financial services (9.1%) and Health (7.4%).

Gloria Guevara, President & CEO, WTTC said: “As we know and is now reaffirmed by this Benchmarking Research, the Travel & Tourism sector underpins much of the spending and supports jobs across the country. Despite its economic challenges, WTTC commends the Italian government for recognising the clear importance of the industry as a driver of economic growth and for their strategy in spreading the benefits of the industry across the country.”

* Travel & Tourism 3.2%
** Overall economy growth rate 0.9%