Last year, travel and tourism industries added 7.2 million jobs worldwide, and created $7.2 trillion in gross domestic product.

“Despite uncertainty in the global economy and specific challenges to travel and tourism last year, the sector grew by 3.1 percent, contributing a total of 9.8 percent to the global GDP,” said David Scowsill, president and CEO, World Travel & Tourism Council. “Travel and tourism also supported a total of 284 million jobs in 2015, an increase of 7.2 million, which means it now supports, directly and indirectly, one in 11 jobs on the planet. Travel and tourism once again has proved its resilient nature. Terror attacks, disease outbreaks, currency fluctuations and geopolitical challenges have impacted the sector at a country or regional level, but travel and tourism at the global level continues to produce another robust performance.”

In some countries, these industries outperformed the economy as a whole through the year, particularly in Iceland, Mexico, Japan, Qatar, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Uganda. Southeast Asia saw the most significant growth in industry contribution to GDP, at 7.9 percent, followed by South Asia, while regions such as Latin America and North Africa saw the least growth.

In the coming year, it is expected the travel and tourism industries will exceed global economic growth again, as their GDP contribution grows 3.5 percent. A few issues are expected to affect travel and industry growth in the coming months, including security threats and oil prices. Looking further ahead, the industries are expected to continue to grow at about a rate of 4 percent annually for the next 10 years.