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World video travel guide
News • Great Britain • 2012-06-01
Tourism in the UK contributes more to GDP than automotive manufacturing
The Travel & Tourism industry in the UK is nearly five times the size of automotive manufacturing and supports almost as many jobs as the financial sector.
This is according to new research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) sponsored by American Express.
The research, undertaken by Oxford Economics, shows that the sector’s direct contribution to the UK GDP is £35 million which is almost five times the GDP of automotive manufacturing and larger than chemical manufacturing and the mining sector.
Travel & Tourism’s total contribution to GDP in the UK was £101 billion in 2011, or 6.7% of total GDP. This compares 2.3% for automotive manufacturing, 1.9% for mining and 4.1% for chemicals.
With 2.3 million direct, indirect and induced sustained jobs in the UK, Travel & Tourism directly supports nearly as many jobs as the financial service sector in the UK.
The new research also showed that Travel & Tourism’s contribution to GDP is faster than most other sectors in the UK. It will grow by 4.1% over the next ten years, a faster growth rate than the total economy and all other industries presented in this study.
It also highlights that Travel & Tourism is a significant source of exports for revenue for the UK. In 2011, visitor exports totaled £25 billion which was 13.2% of all service exports and 5.1% of all exports including goods and services.
The study compared the effect of Travel & Tourism spending on GDP and the wider economy.
Every £640,000 (US$1 million) of Travel & Tourism spending:
Generates £830,000 (US$1.3 million) in GDP which is roughly the same impact as the financial services and communications sector
Generates £76,000 (US$119,000) of gross value added in the real estate sector and the wholesale and retail sector gains £86,000 (US$135,000)
Supports 18 jobs, compared to 13 jobs in the financial sector, 12 jobs in the communications sector and 11 jobs in automotive manufacturing.
David Scowsill, President & CEO, WTTC said: “These numbers are extremely significant. For over 20 years, the World Travel & Tourism Council has spearheaded global and regional analysis of the economic impact of Travel & Tourism. WTTC has now taken this research one step further and assessed the role Travel & Tourism plays in the economy of the UK in comparison to other economic sectors and also how this looks like on a regional level.
The results are extraordinary. Within our industry we have always known that Travel & Tourism is a vast contributor to economic growth and job creation. These figures bear out just how significant our industry is for the UK.
2012 is an important year for the UK’s tourism industry. The Golden Jubilee and Olympics are a prime opportunity to showcase the country’s tourism product and capacity to host major events. However, government support after 2012 will be equally important to ensure that the industry can build on the legacy of these events, and continue to create jobs and growth around the UK. Air passenger duty and high rates of VAT on hotel stays are making tourism in the UK uncompetitive, and costing the economy jobs and GDP. Now is the time for the government to sit up and take notice of the industry and its potential.”
Bill Glenn, President Global Corporate Payments and Business Travel, American Express said: \"With each release of regional data from the latest WTTC research, we continue to see the value that travel can bring to GDP, job creation and other economic factors. We are pleased to sponsor this research and provide the industry with another valuable asset to use to promote the benefits of travel.\"
At WTTC’s Global Summit in Tokyo in April, WTTC’s research revealed that Travel & Tourism’s direct contribution to world GDP US$2 trillion or 2.8% is more than double the GDP of automotive manufacturing and one-third larger than the global chemicals industry. Travel & Tourism generates roughly the same GDP as the global education and communications sectors, and about half that of the global banking and financial services industry.
