BERLIN: The global travel industry should expand by 4 per cent this year despite slowing economic growth in key areas such as China and Europe, but a no-deal Brexit could wipe out 700,000 travel-related jobs, a top industry association said on Tuesday.
The travel and tourism sector grew 3.9 per cent to US$8.8 trillion in 2018, accounting for 10.5 per cent of global gross domestic product, and outpacing global GDP growth of 3.2 per cent, said Ms Gloria Guevara, president and chief executive of the World Travel & Tourism Council. Based on data from 185 countries, the group forecasts steady growth of 4 per cent this year, given continued demand from China, the second largest travel and tourism market behind the US, and other countries in Asia.She noted that expansion in the travel and tourism sector traditionally outpaced global GDP growth.
Britain and the US were two of a few countries in which travel and tourism underperformed economic growth, she said.