New Report Sees ‘Significant’ Rise in Female Employment in Tourism

Photo source: WTTC

The number of women employed in tourism and travel increased between 2010 and 2019 by 24 percent to 47.8 million from 38.6 million, found the latest research released this week by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and the Sustainable Tourism Global Center (STGC).

Initiated by the Tourism Ministry of Saudi Arabia, the report reveals that the leading employer of women over the nine-year period under review was the hospitality industry, accounting for more than half (52 percent) of all female employment in 2019.

Other findings show that young workers represented 15 percent of all jobs in the sector in both 2010 and 2021 but dropped from 16.5 percent in 2010 to 12.5 percent in 2021 in overall global employment.

“For the first time ever, we can show that the sector has an incredibly positive impact globally, supporting more high wage jobs, a level playing field for women, and provides long-term, sustainable, economically attractive jobs to young people across the world,” said WTTC President and CEO Julia Simpson.

CEO and President of WTTC Julia Simpson. Photo source: WTTC.

Other key findings of the report, which takes employment data from Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, include:

– the travel and tourism sector employed a higher share of women compared to other sectors globally in 2021 – 39.3 percent compared to a 39.2 percent average

– women make up a larger share of sector employment than the economy-wide workforce in Asia-Pacific and the Americas. The share of women working in the sector in Africa has been rising since 2010, and female employment across the economy in the Middle East has also grown significantly

– a steady growth of young people employed directly by the sector over the last decade had been reported with a total of 39.7 million jobs supported by the sector worldwide in 2019, up by 28 percent since 2010. This figure was significantly impacted by Covid 2019, when youth employment dropped by 27 percent

– the Asia-Pacific region accounted for more than half of global youth employment in the sector at 9.2 million in 2021

– in 2021, nearly 34 percent of jobs in the sector were categorized as high wage, an increase from 29.6 percent in 2010

– Asia-Pacific had the largest share of high wage jobs in the sector (38.7 percent), followed by Africa (36.2 percent), and the Americas (30.6 percent).