There is a new ray of hope for tourism and travel in Nigeria as the sector is expected to scale up Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and create an average of 2.6 million employment opportunities yearly for the next decade.
According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC )Economic Impact Report release recently, “The Travel and Tourism sector in Nigeria is expected to create 2.6 million new jobs over the next decade, doubling the number of those employed within the sector by 2032.”
The WTTC’s forecast shows that an average of nearly 260,000 new jobs would be created every year for the next 10 years, to reach more than 5.1 million.
According to the report, Nigeria’s Travel and Tourism contribution to GDP is forecast to grow at an average rate of 5.4 per cent between 2022 and 2032, significantly outpacing the three per cent growth rate of the overall economy.
This would catapult the sector’s contribution to GDP to nearly N2.3 trillion by 2032, representing 4.9 per cent of the total economy.
The global tourism body’s report also provides optimism for the short-term recovery, as the sector’s contribution is set to reach near pre-pandemic levels by next year, just 3.5 per cent behind 2019 levels.
By the end of this year, the Nigerian travel and tourism sector’s contribution to GDP is expected to grow 10.4 per cent, to reach more than N7.2 trillion (3.9 per cent of the total economy), while employment in the sector is set to grow by 4.3 per cent to create more than 2.5 million jobs.
Julia Simpson, WTTC President and CEO, said “The pandemic was catastrophic for Nigeria’s travel and tourism sector, wiping billions from the economy and affecting millions of livelihoods.
“Following two years of severe and highly disruptive travel restrictions which decimated the sector, the outlook for the future is much brighter, with our sector expected create more than 2.5 million jobs over the next decade.”
Before the pandemic, Nigeria’s travel and tourism sector’s contribution to GDP was 4.5 per cent (N8 trillion) in 2019, falling to just 2.8 per cent (N4.9 trillion) in 2020, which represented a shocking 39.3 per cent loss.
The sector also supported nearly 3.4 million jobs in 2019, falling to just below 2.2 million in 2020 when the pandemic devastated the sector.
The global tourism body’s latest EIR report also reveals that 2021 saw the beginning of the recovery for Nigeria’s travel and tourism sector.
Last year, its contribution to GDP climbed by 35.1 per cent year-on-year, to reach nearly N6.6 trillion.
The sector also saw a recovery of 240,000 travel and tourism jobs, representing a positive rise of 11.3 per cent to more than 2.4 million.
The sector’s contribution to the economy and employment could have been higher if it were not for the impact of the Omicron variant, which led to the recovery faltering around the world, with many countries reinstating severe travel restrictions.
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