Tourism accounts for 33% of jobs in Belize

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has released a report indicating that for the year 2013, travel and tourism netted Belize BZ$1.2 billion, or 36.6% of GDP, in 2013. WTTC forecasts that travel and tourism in Belize should grow by 4.5% during 2014.

Statistics recently released by the Belize Tourism Board (BTB) indicated that tourism arrivals grew in 2013 by 5.7% for the cruise tourism sector and by 6.1% for the overnight tourism sector.

WTTC’s report said that, “The total contribution of Travel & Tourism to employment, including jobs indirectly supported by the sector was 46,823 jobs (33.0% of total employment).”

As for tourism investment, the report said that the figure was up by almost 25% – at BZ$186 million, and that figure was projected to rise by 7.5% in 2014.

WTTC does an annual economic assessment yearly for 184 countries, with special emphasis on the travel and tourism sector.

Globally, travel and tourism contributed US$7.0 trillion to the world economy – with a forecasted increase of 4.3% in 2014.

According to the WTTC, 1 in 11 of all jobs on the planet are provided by the sector.