Tourists take a dhow ride in Mombasa, April 11, 2017. Kenya’s tourism
industry is expected to grow at an annual average of six per cent over
the next decade. FILE PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NMG
Summary
- The projected tourism growth is quicker than automotive manufacturing at 4.3 per cent and agriculture sector at 5.1 per cent.
- The WTTC report shows that travel and tourism industry is larger than mining, chemicals manufacturing and automotive manufacturing combined.
- The WTTC benchmarking report is published every two years and is sponsored by American Express.
Kenya’s tourism industry is expected to grow at an annual average of six per cent over the next decade.
The
country's travel and tourism's GDP is projected to grow at six per cent
annually over the next 10 years, as the total economy grows at 5.9 per
cent, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WITC)
Benchmarking Report 2017.
The projected growth is quicker than automotive manufacturing at 4.3 per cent and agriculture sector at 5.1 per cent.
The
WTTC report shows that travel and tourism industry is larger than
mining, chemicals manufacturing and automotive manufacturing combined.
The economic value of the business and leisure travel sector,
which is 10 per cent of Kenya's GDP, is almost the same size as Kenya’s
banking sector, the report shows.
Job support
On
employment, travel and tourism directly supports nearly three times as
many jobs as the banking sector and more than twice as many jobs as the
financial services sector in the country.
The report
shows that 1.1 million direct, indirect and induced jobs were supported
by the industry in 2016, or 9.2 per cent of the country’s total
employment.
“These figures show that the tourism sector
is not only a major engine to economic growth in Kenya, but it is also a
creator of jobs,” said David Scowsill, president and chief executive
officer of WTTC.
“In Kenya, as in other countries,
travel and tourism provides jobs across all levels of society and from
the most remote rural areas to the busiest city centre.”
The
report by WTTC indicates that Kenya will need another 500,000 people to
serve the travel and tourism industry over the next 10 years.
In
the face of the forecast, Mr Scowsill added: “In order for our sector
to continue to boost the economy and livelihoods in Kenya, it is
important to address the anticipated talent shortage.”
“We depend on quality people to deliver a quality product to our customers,” the WTTC boss said.
Right policies
He
said right policies, programmes and partnerships need to be put into
place to ensure that Kenya’s workforce of the future know about the
opportunities in the industry.
Mr Scowsill added that appropriate skills and knowledge in the workforce would support future growth of the sector.
“Kenya
is a beautiful country with a great tourism product and I call on the
Kenyan government to continue to invest in the travel and tourism sector
to foster the growth and further explore the great socio-economic
benefits our sector has to offer,” he said.
Countries
researched in the study by WTTC included the United Kingdom, the United
States, Germany, France, China, South Africa, Kenya, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, India, Singapore, Argentina and Canada.
Others
were Turkey, Jamaica, Thailand, Spain, South Korea, Italy, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Brazil, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Peru, Japan and
Mexico.
The WTTC benchmarking report is published every two years and is sponsored by American Express.
Global growth
Travel and tourism is a key driver for investment and economic growth globally.
The
sector contributes $7.6 trillion or 10.2 per cent of global GDP, once
all direct, indirect and induced impacts are taken into account,
according to WTTC’s annual produced economic impact report.
The industry also accounts for 292 million jobs or one in 10 of all jobs on the planet.
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