27/05/2003
New Delhi
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is the Business Leaders' Forum for Travel & Tourism, working with Governments to raise awareness of the importance of the world's largest generator of wealth and jobs.
With the Chief Executives of more than one hundred of the world's leading companies in membership, WTTC has a unique mandate and overview on all matters related to success in Travel & Tourism.
The President of the WTTC, Mr Jean-Claude Baumgarten today released the findings of the 2003 report for India. This report is the third set of Tourism Satellite Accounting Research prepared by the WTTC.
The 2003 research updates the historical results, estimates the current performance of India's Travel & Tourism, and provides short and long-term forecasts based on the most recent national and international data sources and econometric models developed by Oxford Econometric Forecasting.
The message from this report is clear. In 2003, India's Travel & Tourism Industry is expected to generate 2.0 per cent of GDP and 11,093,100 jobs, while the broader Travel & Tourism Economy is expected to total 4.8 per cent of GDP and 23,839,800 jobs. Looking ahead, the forecast for Travel & Tourism Demand is expected to total 7.4 per cent real growth in 2003, and 8.8 percent real growth per annum between 2004 and 2013.
The WTTC research quantifies and documents the Travel & Tourism economics for India, the first step towards addressing mission-critical issues such as tourism management, tourism marketing and promotion, tourism infrastructure, taxation, aviation policy and much more.
THE SARS REPORT
The President of WTTC, Mr Baumgarten gave details of the impact of SARS on Travel & Tourism in South East and East Asia, particularly China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam. He mentioned that personal and business travel in these countries had declined by 25 per cent and capital investment by 10 per cent during the SARS epidemic.
Travel & Tourism demand had declined by 4.9 per cent in Vietnam, 13.4 per cent in Singapore, 10.4 per cent in Hong Kong and 13.4 per cent in China. The total loss of jobs has been 61,700 in Vietnam, 17,550 in Singapore and 27,340 in Hong Kong. It is feared that China will suffer a loss of 2.8 million industry jobs or 20.0 per cent of the total.
Mr Baumgarten gave the WTTC assessment of a fall in Travel & Tourism demand of -0.6 per cent because of the SARS epidemic. Globally, the loss of Travel & Tourism industry jobs will be 2.9 million or 4.3 per cent of total employment.
THE KERALA TSA
WTTC is delighted to have collaborated with the Government of Kerala to produce this report - the first simulated Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for
an Indian state. Kerala is also one of the first sate/provincial governments in the world to quantify the far-reaching contribution of Travel & Tourism to economic growth and employment thanks to the implementation of this new accounting concept, approved by the United Nations Statistical Commission.
This report estimates the current performance of Kerala's Travel & Tourism and provides forecasts based on the most recent national and international data fed into econometric models developed by WTTC's research partner, Oxford Economic Forecasting. It quantifies all aspects of Travel & Tourism demand, from personal consumption to business purchases, capital investment, government spending and exports. It then translates this information into economic concepts of production, such as gross state product and employment, which can be compared with other industries and the economy as a whole to provide credible statistical information that will assist in policy and business decision processes.
The message from this report is surprisingly positive. Travel & Tourism is already one of the highest priority industries and employees for the Kerala Government.
Demand growth in Kerala is the highest in the world and is projected to increase by 11.4 per cent per annum over the coming decade.
The major policy recommendations in the report are:
- Establish Development Authorities for selected destinations.
- Encourage greater market and product diversification.
- Promote coastal cruises, luxury houseboats, water sports, Ayurveda, Kerala's cuisine and traditional festivals.
- Reconstitute Kerala's policy-making system.
- Place high priority on education and training.
- Improve airline access.
The report underlined access to Kerala as the single largest deterrent to travel in the state.
