WTTC predicts world’s travel and tourism industry will grow by 2.8% in 2012
Jane van der Bol, the Executive Director of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA) attended the 50th Anniversary of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica June 15 and 16, 2012.
The report by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) predicts that the world’s travel and tourism industry will grow by 2.8% in 2012.
The impact of the spending on travel and tourism should also spark spending on related industries, generating an overall impact of $6.5 trillion to the global economy and supporting 260 million jobs, the report said.
By comparison, the world’s travel and tourism industry generated $6.3 trillion in direct and indirect spending and supported 255 million jobs in 2011.
“It is clear that the travel and tourism industry is going to be a significant driver of global growth and employment for the next decade,” said David Scowsill, president of the World Travel & Tourism Council, a trade group for the global travel industry.
Travel and Tourism employment hires more people in the world than auto and chemical manufacturing combined worldwide.
What does this mean for Cayman? Approximately 1 in 4 people in the Caribbean are employed in tourism. Cayman is listed third in the top 10 Caribbean destinations targeted by the leisure traveller over the next year.
“Together for Tourism”
The Cayman Islands Tourism Association is a non-profit association which represents its membership of just over 200 tourism related private businesses in the Cayman Islands. The various sectors within the Tourism Association include : Hotels, Condo/Villas, Watersports, Restaurants, Transportation, Attractions, Cruise and Allied (all other businesses associated with our tourism product).
It was formed in March 2001 through an amalgamation of the Cayman Tourism Alliance and the Cayman Islands Hotel and Condominium Association. The association is wholly funded by membership subscriptions and fundraising. CITA actively promotes the continuing improvement and development of Cayman’s tourism Industry through the exchange of information, government relations, training and education, marketing, and events.
