World Travel & Tourism Council
The Authority on World Travel & Tourism
Research
Measuring the size and growth of the Travel & Tourism sector around the world is challenging, but it is critical for an understanding of its economic contribution. WTTC has developed a complex methodology for producing consistent, comprehensive and comparable estimates for Travel & Tourisms economic impact across the world, incorporating and compatible with the Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework (TSA:RMF 2008) approved by the United Nations Statistics Division.
Over the past 20 years, and along with research partners Oxford Economics, WTTC has continually reviewed and enhanced its methodology, developing a system for producing estimates for the economic contribution of Travel & Tourism to 181 countries, 20 regions and the world overall.
These are not strictly Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSAs) and are not intended to replace country TSAs but the estimates are derived from official country TSA statistics, where available, as well as other published data, and are complemented by economic modelling, which allows for cross-country benchmarking. For those countries for which no relevant statistics are available, this research provides a starting point for understanding the direct and indirect economic impact of Travel & Tourism and, ultimately, for better long-term planning.