Julia Simpson (WTTC) predicts China will become the world's largest tourism market

01-10-23

The industry's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is going "really well", said World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) chief executive Julia Simpson, who predicted that China will become the world's largest travel and tourism market in the next three to five years.

"China has finally reopened and made a full recovery," she said in an interview at the recent Global Tourism Economics Forum (GTEF) in Macau, China.

Noting that before the pandemic, travel and tourism accounted for one in 10 US dollars generated globally, 10 percent of the global economy and one in 10 jobs, the pandemic caused many job losses and business closures, Simpson said.