International tourists seen hitting 1.8B by 2030

MANILA, Philippines - International tourists are expected to hit 1.8 billion by 2030, a joint report by the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) showed.

The report titled Tourism and Trade: A Global Agenda for Sustainable Development said over the recent decades, tourism experienced rapid growth and geographic diversification, becoming one of the fastest-growing and most important economic sectors worldwide, contributing nearly 10 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP).

International tourism accounts for 30 percent of global trade in services. In 2014, there were 1.1 billion international tourist arrivals, generating $1.245 trillion in international tourism receipts and an estimated $221 billion passenger transport, totaling to $1.5 trillion in tourism export earnings

As a worldwide export category, tourism ranked fourth in 2013, after fuels ($3.3 trillion), chemicals ($2 trillion) and food ($1.5 trillion).

Furthermore, developing  countries like the Philippines play an increasingly important role in the  growing sector of tourism. According to the report, emerging and developing economies currently account for 45 percent of all international tourist arrivals and is expected to increase to 57 percent by 2030.

“The tourism sector is contributing to economic growth in those countries and offers significant further potential. Tourism is employment intensive and has linkages into many other parts of the economy. It contributes directly to poverty reduction notably among women, recognized by policymakers both at the national and international level,” the report said.

For many emerging economies, tourism generated a total $503 billion in exports last year, coming from the $430 billion in travel and $73 billion in passenger transport.

“Many more countries benefit from tourism, which also tends to generate more employment. It is interesting that throughout the 2009 downturn, international tourism was rather more resilient than other trade categories, decreasing only by five percent in real terms, compared to overall exports declining 11 percent,” it said.

Moreover, the report said to ensure inclusive tourism outcomes, governments should be able to give voice to small stakeholders by establishing the right kinds of mechanisms, especially for business dialogue and consultation.

The report said tourism is considered as an agent for development and driver for socio-economic progress because it encompasses a wide range of goods and services sectors and generates multiplier effects across different economic activities in the tourism value chain, penetrating the local economy and expanding the growth impact from trade.

Furthermore, unlocking tourism potential is said to require the inclusion of policy dimensions that fall within the arena of international trade and foreign direct investments (FDIs) and the identification of action requirements at the national level, within the immediate business environment and at the firm level.