WTTC data notes rise in female employment
New research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) finds the travel sector is delivering on providing employment opportunities to women and young people.
The WTTC and Sustainable Tourism Global Center (STGC), initiated by the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, shows an increase of women employed from 38.6 million to 47.8 million between 2010 and 2019.
It marks a jump of 24%.
It also found hospitality to be the leading employer of women within the sector.
Young workers are shown as an important component of the sector’s workforce, representing 15% of all jobs in the sector.
By contrast, the share of young workers in overall global employment fell from 16.5% in 2010 to 12.5% in 2021.
H.E Ahmed Al Khateeb, Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, said: “Providing insights and data on the sector’s status quo, the report allows countries and regions to set clear goals.”
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continues to play a major role in investing in the talent required for this thriving sector.”
Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, added: “For the first time ever, we can show that the sector has an incredibly positive impact globally, supporting more high wage jobs, and a level playing field for women.”
The report provides a regional breakdown of employment across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
It reveals that the sector employed a marginally higher share of women compared to other sectors globally in 2021.
According to the report, hospitality is the leading employer within the travel sector for women.
The research highlights the steady growth of young people employed directly by the sector over the last decade.
A total of 39.7 million jobs were supported by tourism around the world in 2019, up 28% since 2010.
However, this figure was significantly impacted by Covid-19, where youth employment dropped 27%.
Notably, more than half of the global youth employment in the sector was in the Asia-Pacific region, at 9.2 million in 2021.
In 2021, nearly 34% of jobs in the global tourism sector were categorised as high wage, which is an increase from 29.6% in 2010.
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