Travel & Tourism is increasingly important to the Caribbean state of Trinidad & Tobago, generating an estimated 10.6% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009 – TTD14,116.9 million (US$2,262.3 million) – and 14.7% of total employment (nearly 88,000 jobs) across the wider Travel & Tourism Economy.

More significantly, the contribution of the Travel & Tourism Economy to GDP is expected to rise to 12.7% (TTD32,854.0 million or US$5,290.5 million) by 2019 while, over the same ten-year period, the number of jobs in Travel & Tourism will reach 124,000 – 17.6% of total employment, or 1 in 5.7 jobs.

These are some of the main findings of the World Travel & Tourism Council's (WTTC's) latest simulated Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for Trinidad & Tobago, launched at World Travel Market in the company of Ernest Littles, President & Director of Tourism of the Tourism Development Company (TDC).

"We are delighted to present you with this economic impact study on Trinidad & Tobago, which has been conducted in co-operation with our research partner, Oxford Economics as a follow up to our research conducted in 2005," said Jean-Claude Baumgarten, WTTC President & CEO.

The research programme undertaken by WTTC and Oxford Economics included a unique training component involving the transfer of technical skills to a locally formed TDC team.

"Indeed, our main objective in commissioning the research from WTTC was to help and support the research team to understand the components of such economic impact research," said Ernest Littles, "as well as to provide the team with the necessary skills required to develop these in-depth studies in the future without the assistance of external consultants.

"Moreover," Littles added, "we are very pleased with the results. The programme has been very successful in building local capacity."

The main objective of this simulated TSA was to measure the contribution of Travel & Tourism to the national economy (GDP) and employment, since conventional figures (eg visitor arrivals and spending) tend to underestimate the sector's overall importance. This results in underinvestment in tourism and inadequate emphasis in policy-making.

"We hope that this report will raise awareness of the enormous potential of Travel & Tourism in Trinidad & Tobago and that the recently developed research team will receive the necessary support to conduct sound and healthy research in the future."

This study, which updates research initially conducted in 2005, was based on the United Nations Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework (TSA: RMF 2008), which quantifies all aspects of Travel & Tourism demand, from personal consumption to business purchases, capital investment, government spending and exports. It then translates this information into economic concepts of production such as GDP and employment that can be compared against other industries and the economy as a whole to provide credible statistical information that can assist in public sector policy and business decision processes.

The report shows that, for Trinidad alone, Travel & Tourism contributes 10% of GDP and 13% of employment while, for tourism-intensive Tobago, it has a much higher economic significance, generating 37% of estimated GDP and just over 50% of all employment on the island.

For further information about Trinidad & Tobago please visit www.tdc.co.tt