The travel and tourism sector in the European Union (EU) is expected to reach 98% of its 2019 peak, according to Economic Impact Research (EIR) from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).
The sector is set to contribute €1.44 billion to the economy this year, close to the pre-pandemic 2019 high of €1.47 billion.
The WTTC also expects the sector to create more than 687,000 jobs this year, bringing back nearly 90% of the jobs lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic to more than 22.4 million, with one in nine workers across the EU involved in travel. and the tourism sector.
Last year, the travel and tourism sector’s GDP contribution grew by 40.5% to more than €1.37 billion, accounting for 8.7% of the bloc’s economy, and approaching the 2019 high of 9.6% of the economy.
The sector also created 2 million additional jobs compared to the previous year, reaching 21.8 million jobs; One in ten across the European Union.
According to UNWTO annual research, the sector has now recovered 3.1 million jobs from the 3.6 million jobs lost during the pandemic.
Domestic visitor spending fully recovered in 2022, surpassing the pre-pandemic high of €809 billion, to €814 billion.
Julia Simpson, President and CEO of WTTC, said: “The EU travel and tourism sector is recovering strongly with visitor demand on the rise. The number of jobs created by travel and tourism is 21.8 million, but by the end of this year it will reach nearly 22.5 million, just 2% less than the 2019 figures.
