WTTC report points to tourism recovery in Europe

15-02-23

A new report from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has revealed strong signs of recovery in the economic impact of Travel & Tourism in the five 'powerhouse' cities of Western Europe.

The Cities Economic Impact Report, sponsored by Visa and researched in partnership with Oxford Economics, analysed key indicators such as Travel & Tourism's contribution to GDP, employment and traveller spending. The study examined the impact of the sector in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome and Madrid.

The world tourism body's report shows that in 2019, the travel and tourism sector contributed more than $83.5 billion to the economies of the five European capitals, and last year was only 15% down on 2019 at almost $71 billion.

Paris has shown the strongest recovery of the five capitals and the other four are between 18% and 30% below 2019, showing slightly slower recoveries than the French capital. In Paris, the sector's GDP contribution was $38 billion in 2019, but in 2022 it recovered to just 6% below pre-pandemic levels at an estimated $35.7 billion.

Although the sector's GDP contribution to London was worth almost $15 billion in 2022, it is slightly behind Berlin in terms of recovering to 2019 levels. The German capital's contribution to the city's economy exceeded $7.7 billion in 2022, down 18% on 2019.

Madrid's GDP contribution was over $5500 million in 2022, down 24 % from 2019; however, Rome is witnessing the slowest recovery: 30 % below 2019 levels with a sector contribution of almost $7 billion.