German’s Travel & Tourism industry is set to stagnate in 2012 as sluggish economic growth takes its toll on the industry.
Figures released today at ITB in Berlin by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) show that the overall size of Germany’s Travel & Tourism industry will remain at €41.9 billion in 2012, the same size as in 2011. By contrast the global Travel & Tourism industry will grow by 2.8% this year.
In 2011, the German industry directly supported 731,000 jobs, but this is forecast to fall by 1.1% in 2012 to 723,000 jobs.
When the wider economic impacts of the industry are taken into account, Travel & Tourism’s contribution to the wider Germany economy is expected to fall by 1.8% in 2012 to $115.5 billion and the number of people employed will fall by 2.9% from 2 million to 1.9 million.
David Scowsill, President & CEO of WTTC, said: “Germany’s Travel & Tourism industry is set for a difficult year. The overall size of the industry will remain at the same level as in 2011, yet the number of people employed in the sector will fall. The economic uncertainty afflicting the European Union economy will take its toll on the amount of money that visitors spend and a contraction in business travel by companies. Despite this, Germany will remain the 8th largest Travel & Tourism economy in the world”.
Figures for Germany show a marginal improvement on the wider European Union as a whole. A tightening of consumer spending, uncertainty around the future of the Eurozone and peripheral economies of Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal and the impact of austerity measures kicking-in will result in a contraction of the industry of 0.3% and a fall of the same amount in the number of people employed.
WTTC’s annual Economic Impact Report also shows that the global Travel & Tourism industry is set for a milestone year as the industry’s direct contribution to the global economy is expected to pass $2 trillion in GDP and 100 million jobs.
The report forecasts that the global Travel & Tourism industry will grow by 2.8% in 2012, marginally faster than the global rate of economic growth, predicted to be 2.5%.
This rate of growth means that Travel & Tourism industry is expected to directly contribute $2 trillion to the global economy and sustain some 100.3 million jobs.
When the wider economic impacts of the industry are taken into account, Travel & Tourism is forecast to contribute some $6.5 trillion to the global economy and generate 260 million jobs – or 1 in 12 of all jobs on the planet.
In 2011, Travel & Tourism’s total economic contribution, taking account of its direct, indirect and induced impacts, was US$6.3 trillion in GDP, 255 million jobs, US$743 billion in investment and US$1.2 trillion in exports. This contribution represented 9% of GDP, 1 in 12 jobs, 5% of investment and 5% of exports.