Tourism’s big numbers and how they add up
By Harvey Chipkin
Six trillion is usually a number associated with
measuring national debts or distances to
stars.
But $6.48 trillion is also the number arrived
at by the World Travel & Tourism Council
(WTTC) as the amount of economic activity
to be generated by travel and tourism in 2006
— on this entire planet.
Figuring out how much the
world spends on travel and
tourism is a significant
challenge compared with
many other industries.
A bit more than half of that, or $3.5
trillion, is the amount the WTTC
says is actually spent by consumers
on business travel and discretionary travel and tourism in their home
countries. They spend another $896
billion on overseas trips, for a total of
$4.4 billion.
The comparable numbers for the
U.S. economy are $1.6 trillion in total economic activity and just over $1
trillion in consumer spending. Foreign visitors kick in another $138 billion, for a total that approaches $1.2
trillion.
Of course, these are estimates.
Nobody counted up every dollar
spent on airline tickets, hotel rooms,
amusement park rides and taxi trips
to the airport. The beauty of these
estimates, however, is they were done
with a standard formula that the
WTTC applies to 174 national economies around the globe.
If you’re looking for numbers you
can take to the bank, these should do.
A COMPILATION
Figuring out how much the world
spends on travel and tourism is a
significant challenge compared with
many other industries.
As noted by Adam Sachs of Oxford
Economic Forecasting in Philadel-
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