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What does the World Travel and Tourism Council do?

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The World Travel and Tourism Council is an important player in the world of travel. But chances are, you might not have even heard of them! This post looks at what the WTTC is, and what it does…

What is the World Travel and Tourism Council?

Who is involved in the wttc, global summit, security and travel facilitation , crisis preparedness, management & recovery, sustainable growth.

Founded in 1990, the WTTC is a forum for the travel and tourism industry. Made up of members of the global business community, the World Travel and Tourism Council works with governments around the world to raise awareness about the industry.

The WTTC headquarters are in London. It is a non-profit organisation and represents the industry worldwide. 

There are many members of the World Travel and Tourism Council. Currently there are seven directors, each heading different sections of the organisation as a whole. The members themselves are various CEOs, chairs and presidents of travel and tourism-based companies. They represent hotels, airports, car rental companies and more. Over 200 companies (such as Hilton, Expedia, Norwegian Cruise Line) have WTTC representatives – these companies make up around 30% of the sector and account for over two-thirds of a trillion US dollars in turnover.

Memberships allows you access to the World Travel and Tourism Council Global Summit. This provides networking opportunities and gives members access to regional travel and tourism events throughout the year. Being a member also grants access to plenty of worldwide research, practices and policy papers. There is an online community, too!

What do the World Travel and Tourism Council actually do?

Despite not being something that automatically springs to mind when you think of travel, the WTTC do a lot within the industry. They also have an indirect impact on your travels. This is because they bring people together to learn from each other, make decisions and offer advice – these things in turn may shape the tour that you go on, the hotel that you stay at or the airport experience you have.

One of the main aims of the WTTC is to conduct extensive research into the industry. Every year they produce the Travel & Tourism Economic Impact Reports. This is the crux of their research. Included is a global report alongside 24 regional and 184 country reports. As the name suggests, they calculate the economic impact of the travel industry and include the following:

• Direct and total GDP impact
• Direct/indirect employment
• Investment 
• One and ten year forecasts

The World Travel and Tourism Council also host a global summit each year. This generally takes place in April. It is invitation-only, and has around 1,000 attendees. The summit – held in a different location each year – involves multiple talks, interviews, panels and more. Each year there is a theme. The talks and panels reflect this, and there is plenty of opportunity for attendees to network with each other and learn more about the theme and everything that comes with it. Speakers include CEOs, prime ministers, senior partners and various advisors from travel companies and destinations across the globe.

Finally, the World Travel and Tourism Council give out awards. Council members form the jury of the World Travel Awards (founded in 1993) which has been described as the Oscars of the travel industry. Awards are given at both global and international levels. The categories include ‘leading casino resort’ and ‘leading conference hotel’ among many others. 

The WTTC also has the Tourism For Tomorrow awards. The five categories are:

• Social Impact Award
• Destination Stewardship Award
• Climate Action Award
• Investing in People Award
• Changemakers Award

Each category has been carefully chosen to highlight how travel and tourism can change the world for the better. Namely, how travelling can have economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits on places and people. Entries for the awards come from businesses throughout the industry. These include resorts, airlines, chains and destinations.

What is the World Travel and Tourism Council particularly interested in?

The WTTC has certain priorities. While it aims to provide advice, statistics and research about many aspects of the travel and tourism industry, there are some that are more important than others. The World Travel and Tourism Council prioritises three key areas:

The WTTC is working towards showing that improved bias facilitation helps to drive GDP growth/job creation. They also wanted to show that travel can be both ‘secure’ and ‘seamless’ – that these are not opposing goals. Systems are already strained due to the increase in travel. The World Travel and Tourism Council want to research and advise on this.

The WTTC helps to provide the industry with an understanding of any emerging, escalating and ongoing risks that lie ahead. They also aid in equipping both the public and private sectors with tools, protocols and solutions. This helps to support them in preparing and responding to any crises that do occur.

As the travel industry continues to grow, the World Travel and Tourism Council want to ensure it does so in a sustainable way. This is of the upmost importance to the WTTC. Here are six of the most important sustainability issues for them:

• Climate and Environment Action
• Destination Stewardship
• Future of Work
• Illegal Trade in Wildlife
• Human Trafficking
• Sustainability Reporting

With these three main priorities in mind, the World Travel and Tourism Council are able to provide guidance to the travel and tourism industry as a whole. Their work is invaluable and, as mentioned, has an impact on your travels! Decisions that your airlines, tour companies, travel agents, hotels and tourist boards make are very often advised by correspondence from and with the WTTC.

So next time you travel, remember that the WTTC has helped you get there!

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Economic Impact Research

• In 2022, the Travel & Tourism sector contributed 7.6% to global GDP ; an  increase of 22%  from 2021 and only  23%  below 2019 levels.
• In 2022, there were  2 2 million new jobs , representing a 7.9% increase on 2021, and only 11.4% below 2019.
• Domestic visitor  spending  increased by 20.4%  in 2022, only 14.1% below 2019.
• International visitor spending  rose by 81.9% in 2022, but still 40.4% behind 2019 numbers.

Regional overview 2019

Regional overview 2022

Regional overview 2022 vs 2019

Why conduct research?

From the outset, our Members realised that hard economic facts were needed to help governments and policymakers truly understand the potential of Travel & Tourism. Measuring the size and growth of Travel & Tourism and its contribution to society, therefore, plays a vital part in underpinning WTTC’s work.

What research does WTTC carry out?

Each year, WTTC and Oxford Economics produce reports covering the economic contribution of our sector in 185 countries, for 26 economic and geographic regions, and for more than 70 cities. We also benchmark Travel & Tourism against other economic sectors and analyse the impact of government policies affecting the sector such as jobs and visa facilitation.

Visit our Research Hub via the button below to find all our Economic Impact Reports, as well as other reports on Travel and Tourism.

UN Tourism | Bringing the world closer

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UNWTO, WTTC & WTM Ministers’ Summit commits to Investing in Tourism’s Sustainable Future

• All Regions
• 20 Oct 2021

Tourism leaders from around the world will once again come together for the UNWTO, WTTC & WTM Ministers’ Summit at WTM London this November, to commit to investing in the sector’s sustainable future.

The summit is the largest annual gathering of tourism ministers and will take place on Tuesday 2nd November during WTM London – the leading global event for the travel industry. Ministers, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and experts are invited to take part.

For more than 10 years, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and WTM London have partnered to host a high-level summit, focusing on key challenges and opportunities facing the sector.

The 2021 Summit will also be presenting an opportunity for leaders to discuss ways to build back better and invest in a sustainable future for the travel and tourism industry.

The Ministers’ Summit 2021 could not be more timely and will provide a blueprint for promoting investments in tourism’s sustainable future, one of UNWTO’s key priorities as we guide the global restart of the sector

The UNWTO, WTTC & WTM Ministers' Summit 2021 will provide a practical platform for tourism leaders of the public and private sectors to share best practices and explore investment opportunities, uniting sector leaders and top thinkers to examine tourism’s sustainable future and the essential role that targeted ‘green investment’ will play in achieving this.

WTM London Exhibition Director,  Simon Press said:

“This will be our 15th Ministers’ Summit and, as with previous events, what will be discussed and agreed will prove to be of paramount importance. We know how much destinations rely on the tourism industry for economic growth, jobs and wellbeing.

“Yet at the same time, this wellbeing is being threatened by weather that is becoming more extreme – as witnessed in recent news coverage of floods, heat waves, wildfires and other phenomena. We cannot simply sit back and do nothing. Urgent action is needed now to establish a sustainable future for the globe and the people who rely on travel and tourism.

“This will be the second opportunity for ministers and global industry leaders to meet in the wake of the pandemic and is a proven effective platform for exploring the best ways to work together.

“The Ministers’ Summit promises important debate and the exchange of ideas and best practice, to spur action for the good of the communities we support and the environment.”

UNWTO Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili said:

“ The World Travel Market provides UNWTO with a unique platform for bringing together the political influence of governments and public sector leaders and the dynamism of the private sector. The Ministers’ Summit 2021 could not be more timely and will provid e a blueprint for promoting investments in tourism’s sustainable future, one of UNWTO’s key priorities as we guide the global restart of the sector.”

WTTC President & CEO, Julia Simpson said:

“This S ummit comes at a crucial time and will offer a vital forum for planning and sharing ideas for 2021 and onwards, as we begin to recover from this global pandemic . The aim of sustainable tourism is to increase the benefits and to reduce the negative impacts caused by tourism for destinations, and this year’s M inister Summit will address the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities”

The UNWTO, WTTC & WTM Ministers’ Summit – Investing in Tourism’s Sustainable Future takes place on the WTM Global Stage at WTM London from 10:30-12:30 on Tuesday 2 November 2021.

The Ministers’ Summit is available for anyone who has registered for WTM London to attend.

Related links

• Download the news release in PDF
• The climate emergency is a bigger threat than Covid
• UNWTO & WTM Ministers’ Summit 2021: Investing in Tourism’s Sustainable Futur

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WTTC: World Travel and Tourism Council

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) represents the Travel & Tourism sector globally.

Our  Members  include over 200 CEOs, Chairpersons and Presidents of the world’s leading Travel & Tourism companies from all geographies covering all industries. WTTC works to raise awareness of Travel & Tourism as one of the world’s largest economic sectors,  supporting one in 10 jobs (330 million)  worldwide, and  generating 10.3% of global GDP .

For the past 30 years, WTTC has conducted research on the economic impact of Travel & Tourism in 185 countries. In 2019, the Travel & Tourism sector  experienced 3.5% growth , outpacing that of the  global economy (2.5%)  for the ninth consecutive year. Over the past five years,  one in four new jobs were created  by the sector, making Travel & Tourism the best partner for governments to generate employment.

Coping with success: Managing overcrowding in tourism destinations

Travel and tourism is a cornerstone of the global economy. It already accounts for 10.2 percent of global GDP, and 292 million jobs. And the sector is growing rapidly, thanks to the expanding global middle class, improved digital and physical connectivity, and human curiosity. If travelers spread out around the world evenly, tourism would be relatively easy to absorb. Of course, that is not the case, now or likely in the future. By 2020, the 20 most popular countries will add more international arrivals than the rest of the world combined (exhibit).

Similar imbalances occur in cities and at individual sites. Overcrowding is a global problem, with places as diverse as Thailand’s Koh Khai Islands, Peru’s Machu Picchu, and Venice worrying about the side effects of the tourism they depend on.

In this report, McKinsey and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) introduce a simple, fact-based diagnostic to help destination leaders identify and address the challenges they face. We also offer specific ways for destinations to deal with overcrowding.

To put it simply: it is easier for destinations to prevent overcrowding in the first place than to recover from it. So long-term success lies in good planning and management. There are four priorities:

• Build a comprehensive fact base and update it regularly.
• Establish a sustainable growth strategy through rigorous, long-term planning.
• Involve all sections of society—commercial, public, and social.
• Find new sources of funding.

Would you like to learn more about our Travel, Logistics & Transport Infrastructure Practice ?

For destinations already struggling from overcrowding, the research found five approaches that have proved to help.

• Smooth visitors over time by encouraging them to visit during nonpeak times of day, season, and year through actions such as arrival limits and ticketing systems.
• Spread visitors across sites, for example, by developing new attractions and promoting less-popular sites and areas.
• Adjust pricing to balance supply and demand by, for example, introducing variable or tiered pricing.
• Regulate accommodation supply through regulations on home-sharing and additional hotel rooms.
• In dire situations, limit access and activities to protect natural and cultural integrity.

Each of these approaches will need to use both carrots and sticks—rules, regulations, taxes, and fees, combined with promotion, marketing, and the creative use of technology. There is no single answer to overcrowding; what works in one place may not work at another. But the report canvasses efforts from all over the world to illustrate the possibilities.

This research represents a beginning; it will be refined as destinations try these and other innovations. We hope it helps to start conversations among government leaders, businesses, and residents about how to manage—or better yet, prevent—overcrowding.

Download the full report on which this article is based, Coping with success: Managing overcrowding in tourism destinations (PDF–4MB).

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Global tourism sector recovering faster than expected this year, WTTC says

Total tourism arrivals worldwide are expected to grow 5 per cent in 2023.

A baby mountain gorilla in the Sabyinyo Mountains of Rwanda. The country is the first African host of the ongoing World Travel and Tourism Council's annual global summit. AFP

The global tourism sector is rebounding at a faster pace than expected this year, despite macroeconomic and geopolitical tensions, but environmental sustainability must be central to its recovery.

That is according to the latest global tourism outlook revealed by the World Travel and Tourism Council on Wednesday at its annual global summit, held for the first time in Africa, in the Rwandan capital Kigali.

Total tourism arrivals worldwide are expected to grow 5 per cent in 2023, compared to 2019, according to WTTC's latest forecast in partnership with Oxford Economics. That is an improvement on the 2 per cent the organisation predicted in March.

“Despite economic and geopolitical turmoil in 2023, we're seeing that this year so far is showing a faster recovery than our initial expectations,” Julia Simpson, the WTTC's president and chief executive, said at the summit's opening press briefing.

“Our previous predictions in March have now been exceeded by travel and tourism's current performance … every single region is growing faster than we had originally predicted.

“Once again, our sector has shown its true resilience and grit in the reopening after the pandemic.”

Tourism arrivals into the Middle East are set to rise 28 per cent this year, from their pre-Covid levels, the October forecast showed. The organisation in March had predicted 22 per cent growth.

Asked specifically about the impact of the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza wars on the recovery of global tourism, Ms Simpson said: “All I can say is that the WTTC, as an organisation that represents travel and tourism, we stand for peace, we stand for building bridges and we stand for connecting people.”

Airlines in the Middle East have said that the Israel-Gaza war has led to a drop in air travel to the region , as the conflict rages on amid international calls to halt the fighting to ease the humanitarian disaster in the enclave.

Challenges include costly flight diversions for security reasons, steep fuel bills and a drop in international visitors.

The global travel and tourism sector contributed to more than 10 per cent of the global gross domestic product in 2019, with the industry worth $10 trillion.

It lost about 50 per cent of its value during the Covid-19 pandemic, making it one of the hardest hit sectors.

So far this year, the sector has nearly recovered to its pre-Covid levels, according to the WTTC.

Travel and tourism is expected to contribute 9.2 per cent to the global GDP at a value of $9.5 trillion in 2023, just 5 per cent below its 2019 levels. That is a 23.3 per cent year-on-year increase from the $7.7 trillion recorded in 2022.

“We are very resilient, we come back. It's deep in our DNA to travel and to connect,” Ms Simpson said.

Winston Duke speaks in Saudi Arabia for World Tourism Day

The industry has not fully rebounded to 2019 levels yet partly because China's full recovery potential has yet to be realised, Ms Simpson said.

“The reason we're not quite there is that China, which is one of the biggest travel and tourism economies, only opened this year and is still going through those opening processes of making sure people can travel and get visas,” she said.

“We've also had some issues around labour shortages, which were short-term, but hampered a little bit the recovery. But we're practically there.”

In the next 10 years, the value of the travel and tourism industry is going to increase to reach about $15.5 trillion, according to Ms Simpson.

But rebuilding the sector following the pandemic-induced turmoil must also take into account its impact on the environment, she said.

Travel and tourism was responsible for 8.1 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, 10.6 per cent of total global energy and 0.9 per cent of freshwater use, according to a study revealed last year by the WTTC and Sustainable Tourism Global Centre, part of Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Tourism.

“Travel and tourism is recovering but as we know, sustainability needs to be at its centre,” Ms Simpson said. “Growing back better means growing sustainably.”

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