It is the forum par excellence where leaders, both public and private, debate the strategies, opportunities and difficulties of the global tourism industry in an open forum.
Pedro Sánchez, the President of the Spanish government, will welcome today, Wednesday, the 1,500 congressmen, flanked by the Mayor of Seville, Juan Espadas, and the President of Andalusia, Juan Manuel Moreno.
Gloria Guevara, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTCC) President and CEO, is sure to explain the importance of the organization she leads and its relevance to this gigantic industry. As the WTCC summarizes, Travel & Tourism is “one of the world’s largest economic sectors, supporting one in 10 jobs worldwide and generating 10.4 per cent of world GDP”.
“In the next decade, WTTC forecasts show that Travel & Tourism’s direct contribution to GDP is expected to grow at an average of 3.8 per cent per year. As a result, the sector will contribute an average [of] 9 million new jobs annually”, explains the body that represents the Travel & Tourism private sector globally and that includes “170 CEO’s, Chairmen and Presidents of the world’s leading T&T companies”.
Many of them will be in Seville until Thursday to discuss the contours of world tourism, whether from the perspective of hospitality, investment funds, credit cards or news coverage and social media
in one of the most anticipated sessions of the event, “China: The Rising Star”. With the awakening of the huge dragon, the impact of Chinese tourists leads to enthusiasm and relief.
After all, as the summary of the session defines, “In less than two decades, outbound Chinese travel has skyrocketed by over 1,000%, reaching 145 million in 2017 and forecasted to hit [the] 400 million mark by 2030. China is not only the single largest source market but is a leading global destination, welcoming over 60 million foreigners in 2017.”
* Project Asia Corp. was invited by WTCC to the event in Seville
