The Travel & Tourism sector is a significant contributor to the global economy and a major employer around the world. It is a highly inclusive and diverse sector, helping to strengthen the social fabric and enrich communities. In particular, the sector provides an important source of employment for young workers and women – both of which are demographics expressly identified by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals framework. This report analyses the social impact footprint of Travel & Tourism for these groups and investigates the extent to which the sector creates high-wage jobs across countries.
The Travel & Tourism sector is a critical source of employment for young workers worldwide, directly employing 18.9 million young people in 2019,2 up 31.0% from 14.5 million in 2010. The percentage of young workers employed in the sector globally as a share of all young workers increased to 4.5%, compared to 3.0% in 2010. While the employment figures dropped in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, it has since shown signs of recovery, with employment rising to 15.3 million jobs in 2021.
Young workers remain an important component of the sector’s workforce, holding approximately 15% of all jobs in the Travel & Tourism sector in both 2010 and 2021. By contrast, the share of young workers in overall global employment fell from 16.5% in 2010 to 12.5% in 2021.
Travel & Tourism are particularly important for young workers in Europe, directly accounting for 5.7% of all youth employment in 2021. The sector also provided jobs for 3.5% of all young workers in the Middle East in 2021, rising from 3.0% in 2010, supporting their efforts at tackling relatively high youth unemployment.3 In contrast, the sector directly contributed just 1.3% of all youth jobs in Africa in 2021, owing to the importance of the agricultural sector and the positive perception of – and hence competition for - tourism jobs when it comes to pay, formality and security.
The Travel & Tourism sector is also an important source of job opportunities for women. The sector directly employed 38.6 million women in 2010, rising to 47.8 million in 2019, an increase of 24%. Jobs in Travel & Tourism are marginally more likely to be held by women than in other sectors: on average, women made up 39.8% of the jobs in the global Travel & Tourism sector in 2019, compared to 39.5% in the overall economy. Hospitality is the leading employer within the Travel & Tourism sector for women, accounting for more than half of all female employment in the sector. Similarly, around 50% of overall hospitality employment was represented by women in both 2019 and 2021.
Beyond the proportion of young people and women employed in Travel & Tourism, the report assessed the extent to which the sector provides high-wage jobs, by estimating the number of jobs supported by Travel & Tourism that are in the top third of earnings in each country. About 34% of jobs in the global Travel & Tourism sector were categorised as high-wage in 2021, higher than the global economy average of 30%. The share in the sector has grown steadily from 29.6% in 2010. The research finds that 38.7% of jobs directly supported by Travel & Tourism in Asia-Pacific were within high-wage sectors in 2021, higher than any other region. By contrast, in Europe, just 15.1% of high-wage jobs were in the Travel & Tourism sector that year.
The Travel & Tourism sector is a significant contributor to the global economy and a major employer around the world. It is a highly inclusive and diverse sector, helping to strengthen the social fabric and enrich communities. In particular, the sector provides an important source of employment for young workers and women – both of which are demographics expressly identified by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals framework. This report analyses the social impact footprint of Travel & Tourism for these groups and investigates the extent to which the sector creates high-wage jobs across countries.
The Travel & Tourism sector is a critical source of employment for young workers worldwide, directly employing 18.9 million young people in 2019,2 up 31.0% from 14.5 million in 2010. The percentage of young workers employed in the sector globally as a share of all young workers increased to 4.5%, compared to 3.0% in 2010. While the employment figures dropped in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, it has since shown signs of recovery, with employment rising to 15.3 million jobs in 2021.
Young workers remain an important component of the sector’s workforce, holding approximately 15% of all jobs in the Travel & Tourism sector in both 2010 and 2021. By contrast, the share of young workers in overall global employment fell from 16.5% in 2010 to 12.5% in 2021.
Travel & Tourism are particularly important for young workers in Europe, directly accounting for 5.7% of all youth employment in 2021. The sector also provided jobs for 3.5% of all young workers in the Middle East in 2021, rising from 3.0% in 2010, supporting their efforts at tackling relatively high youth unemployment.3 In contrast, the sector directly contributed just 1.3% of all youth jobs in Africa in 2021, owing to the importance of the agricultural sector and the positive perception of – and hence competition for - tourism jobs when it comes to pay, formality and security.
The Travel & Tourism sector is also an important source of job opportunities for women. The sector directly employed 38.6 million women in 2010, rising to 47.8 million in 2019, an increase of 24%. Jobs in Travel & Tourism are marginally more likely to be held by women than in other sectors: on average, women made up 39.8% of the jobs in the global Travel & Tourism sector in 2019, compared to 39.5% in the overall economy. Hospitality is the leading employer within the Travel & Tourism sector for women, accounting for more than half of all female employment in the sector. Similarly, around 50% of overall hospitality employment was represented by women in both 2019 and 2021.
Beyond the proportion of young people and women employed in Travel & Tourism, the report assessed the extent to which the sector provides high-wage jobs, by estimating the number of jobs supported by Travel & Tourism that are in the top third of earnings in each country. About 34% of jobs in the global Travel & Tourism sector were categorised as high-wage in 2021, higher than the global economy average of 30%. The share in the sector has grown steadily from 29.6% in 2010. The research finds that 38.7% of jobs directly supported by Travel & Tourism in Asia-Pacific were within high-wage sectors in 2021, higher than any other region. By contrast, in Europe, just 15.1% of high-wage jobs were in the Travel & Tourism sector that year.
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