Daily Star: The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) estimated that the travel and tourism industry would contribute directly $1.36 billion to the Lebanese economy, equivalent to 5.7 percent of GDP in 2008, according to a report in Lebanon This Week, an economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group. The report added that direct industry employment will reach 80,000, representing 5.9 percent of total employment in Lebanon this year.
The report said that since travel and tourism (T&T) touches on all sectors of the economy, its real direct and indirect impact is even greater, and forecast the T&T economy overall to generate $4.43 billion, or 18.7 percent, of economic activity in Lebanon in 2008. That would include 252,000 jobs, or one in every 5.4 jobs, representing 18.4 percent of total employment in 2008. The WTTC's definition of T&T includes transportation, accommodation, catering, recreation and services for visitors. It added that the industry's direct contribution to Lebanon's economic activity will rise to $2.3 billion, or 5.2 percent of GDP, in 2018, while the broader T&T economy will contribute $7.5 billion, or 17.1 percent of GDP, by 2018.
The WTTC projected the T&T economy in Lebanon to grow by 2.3 percent per year in real terms between 2009 and 2018 compared to 3.9 percent in the Middle East and 4 percent globally over the same period of time, while the direct industry will grow by 2.2 percent per year in real terms during the 2009-2018 period compared to 5.6 percent growth for the Middle East and 3.3 percent globally. Lebanon's T&T economy ranked 35th among 176 countries in terms of its contribution to GDP in 2008, while it ranked in 162nd place worldwide in terms of its annualized growth rate over the 2009-18 period.
Further, jobs in the T&T direct industry are forecast to reach 85,000 or 5.3 percent of total jobs in Lebanon by 2018, while employment in Lebanon's T&T economy should total 268,000 jobs overall, or one in every 5.9 jobs, equivalent to 16.8 percent of total employment by 2018. In comparison, the WTTC forecast direct industry employment in the Middle East to grow by 5.6 percent over the 2009-18 period and to account for 3.1 percent of total employment, while it forecast the T&T economy employment to grow by 2.8 percent and to account for 9.2 percent of total employment in the region. Lebanon ranked 32nd worldwide in terms of the share of its T&T economy employment out of total employment, while it came in 143rd place in the real growth rate of T&T employment over the coming 10 years.
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