The report was released jointly by Saudi Arabian Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb (L) and Julia Simpson, President & CEO, WTTC (R)
A report prepared by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), a global travel trade association, in collaboration with Saudi Arabian Tourism Ministry, says that the employment levels of women and youth remains far below the levels prevailing before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report, Social Trends in Travel and Tourism Employment: The Impacts of Covid-19, was released by the two organisations at Sao Paulo in Brazil as part of the meeting of Ministers of Tourism of the G20 countries under the Brazilian presidency of G20. It reveals ‘stark impact of the pandemic on women and youth employment within the global travel and tourism sector’. It says that woman and youth who had jobs tied to travel and tourism were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
WTTC says that the travel and tourism sector has huge potential to generate positive social impacts through its employment footprint, particularly in the jobs it offers to under-represented groups. It says that the sector is a major contributor to the global economy and workforce, representing 9 pc of world GDP and 1 out of every 10 jobs in 2023.
The sector’s employment impact contributes to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in low- and middle-income countries by generating high-wage jobs and supporting employment of minority groups, adds WTTC.
It says that its latest report assesses employment across 185 countries and seven sectors contributing to travel and tourism across 2019-2022, providing an overview of how Covid-19 affected employment patterns across age, gender and wage levels.
“It shows that women and youth were disproportionately affected by the crisis, highlighting the needs to develop policies for resilient employment across the sector that can protect vulnerable groups moving forward,’’ says the report.
It adds that in 2022, the travel and tourism sector directly employed 16.1 million young people and 42 million women, and nearly 35 million direct travel and tourism jobs were categorised as high-wage. It is significantly lower than the 48.4 million women and 19 million young workers who were employed by the industry in 2019, says the report.
WTTC says that the sector has contributed towards a higher share in youth employment and high-wage jobs, and similar share of female employment, compared to the rest of the economy worldwide, demonstrating its potential as a key sector for sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development.
However, the global pandemic jeopardised the social benefits of travel and tourism and revealed the vulnerability of jobs to external economic conditions, particularly the jobs held by women and young people. While job losses were experienced across the sector during the pandemic, young and female workers were disproportionately impacted compared to other groups.
It says that this is because young people and women are more likely to work in sectors that were heavily hit by pandemic-related restrictions such as hospitality, be on hourly or informal contracts, or have other commitments outside of work.
WTTC says that building the travel and tourism sector’s resilience to global shocks is essential to securing positive social outcomes. Employment policies, implemented either by national governments or by travel and tourism service providers, can provide security for vulnerable employees during hard times.
It adds that countries with social safety nets, job protection schemes, or vocational training programmes have seen employment of young people and women recover more quickly after 2020.
Lower employment of young people and women is a systemic issue and achieving change requires collaboration. The findings highlight the need for policies to support training and education, workforce entry, and employee retention, says the WTTC report.
Julia Simpson
“This report highlights the extraordinary potential of travel and tourism to drive inclusive growth, but it also underscores the urgent need for action. Women and young people are the backbone of our sector, yet they continue to face significant barriers,” says Julia Simpson, President and CEO, WTTC.
She added that by investing in skills, promoting inclusive policies, and fostering entrepreneurship, more women and young people will be able to rejoin the travel and tourism workforce.
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