Tourism Minister Says SMEs Should Benefit from Sector’s Growth

Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says despite massive growth projections for global travel and tourism, small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in the sector are yet to reap the full benefit.

“As we observe tourism’s impact on the global economy and celebrate the contribution this sector makes in providing one in 11 jobs, we must also question why 80 per cent of tourism expenditure leaks out of the host countries,” the Minister said.

Mr. Bartlett was delivering the main address at the Tourism Knowledge Exchange, sponsored by the World Bank Group, at its headquarters in Washington DC on June 21

“We can no longer only be concerned with tourism’s overall economic growth, be it on a global, regional and even national scale. Growth that does not reach a wide cross section of the population, that does not do its job to alleviate poverty, and does not enrich people’s lives and the future in all communities, runs the risk of being viewed as only for the elite,” the Minister said.

Quoting the recently released World Travel & Tourism Council’s Benchmarking Report 2017, Mr. Bartlett said “the global tourism sector directly sustains twice as many jobs as the financial sector and five times as many jobs as the chemicals sector”.

He pointed out that according to the report, Global Travel & Tourism is forecast to grow four per cent per year over the next 10 years, while the global economy grows at 2.7 per cent. “In the Americas alone, there are 42.7 million jobs in tourism – larger than banking, chemicals manufacturing, automotive manufacturing and mining,” he noted.

“These findings are incredible, and the numbers speak for themselves in the power of global tourism and its unstoppable growth,” Bartlett said.

However, he pointed out that while all indicators hail the rapid growth and scale of the tourism powerhouse, the true reality is that in many instances, the small and medium-size tourism enterprises in tourism-dependent nations are not reaping the full benefits tourism ought to provide.

“If tourism accounts for more than 10 per cent of global GDP and 30 per cent of the world’s trade in services, providing one in 11 jobs worldwide… and 80 per cent of global tourism is driven by small and medium tourism enterprises, then it should not be the case that 80 per cent of tourism’s expenditure leaks out of the host countries,” the Minister said.