WTTC says that 2022 also saw the return of international travellers to Italy with spending from overseas visitors growing 99.3 pc to reach over EUR 42 billion (Photo: India Outbound/Varsha Singh)
The travel and tourism sector in Italy has shown a very strong recovery as the sector is set to contribute nearly EUR 194 billion to the Italian economy this year, says a report by the World Travel & Tourism Council.
In a press statement WTTC says that its 2023 Economic Impact Research (EIR) reveals Italy’s travel and tourism sector is recovering strongly post-pandemic. According to the research, the sector is set to contribute EUR 194 billion to the Italian economy this year, within 3 pc of the pre-pandemic peak.
In the statement, WTTC forecasts that the sector will create more than 65,000 jobs this year, recovering almost all of the jobs lost due to the Covid-19 pandemic to reach almost 2.8 million jobs in all. WTTC says that last year, the travel and tourism sector’s GDP contribution grew by 33.4 pc to reach more than EUR 194 billion, representing 10.2 pc of the Italian economy, edging closer to the 2019 high of EUR 200.5 billion.
Last year the sector also created 315,000 more jobs from the previous year to reach 2.7 million jobs nationally, or one in nine jobs across Italy. The sector has now recovered 334,000 of the 477,000 jobs lost during the pandemic.
WTTC says that 2022 also saw the return of international travellers to Italy with spending from overseas visitors growing 99.3 pc to reach over EUR 42 billion, just 11 pc behind 2019 levels.
Julia Simpson
“The travel and tourism sector is an important contributor to the Italian economy. The sector’s strong recovery is great news for jobs and prosperity across Italy as international visitors return. Over the next 10 years we expect tourism to grow to represent 12 pc of the Italian GDP,” says Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO.
For the future, the global tourism body forecasts that the sector will grow its GDP contribution to nearly EUR 237 billion by 2033, almost 12 pc of the Italian economy and will employ over 3.3 million people across the country, with one in seven Italians working in the sector.
Regarding the performance of Europe as a whole in 2022, WTTC says that the European travel and tourism sector contributed EUR 1.9 trillion to the regional economy, just 7 pc below the 2019 peak. It forecasts the region’s GDP contribution from the sector will reach EUR 2.04 trillion in 2023 and be within touching distance of the 2019 highpoint. The sector employed 34.8 million people across the region in 2022, an increase of 2.9 million from the previous year but still 3.2 million jobs below the 2019 peak. WTTC forecasts the sector will fully recover the jobs lost during the pandemic by the end of 2024.
WTTC says that the research was carried out in partnership with Oxford Economics with information sourced from UNWTO, Oxford Economics and national sources.
