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Tourism In South Korea Might Produce 500,000 Employment

According to information provided by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the travel and tourism industry in South Korea is forecast to generate around 500,000 new employment over the course of the next decade.

The projection from WTTC’s most recent Economic Impact Report (EIR) predicts that the sector will surpass the general economy over the next ten years. The projection shows that there will be an average of about 49,000 new employment created each year, and that number will reach nearly 1.8 million by 2032.

The GDP of South Korea’s travel and tourism industry is projected to grow at an average rate of 4.8 percent annually between 2022 and 2032, according to the report. This growth rate is expected to significantly outpace the growth rate of the national overall economy, which is estimated to be 1.8 percent.

As a result, the contribution of this sector to the economy as a whole will increase to roughly 116.9 trillion yen, which is equivalent to 4.6 percent of the whole GDP.

According to the projections of a worldwide tourist group, the contribution of the tourism industry to South Korea’s GDP might approach 83.4 trillion won in 2023, which is just 4.7 percent lower than the levels seen before the epidemic.

With an eye toward this year, the global tourism body predicts that the contribution of the sector to GDP is expected to grow by 30.6%, to nearly 73 trillion, which amounts to 3.5 percent of the total economy, despite the fact that employment levels in the sector are set to remain stagnant, at nearly 1.3 million.

“After the terrible damage the pandemic inflicted on South Korea’s travel and tourism industry, the future looks bright for the economy,” stated Julia Simpson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).

“We commend the administration for lifting travel restrictions, a decision that will undoubtedly have a good impact and restore millions of jobs,” said the American Federation of Government Employees.

However, pre-departure testing is no longer needed in many countries throughout the globe, and we strongly encourage the government to follow the example of these nations and once again let travelers to roam freely.

Before the epidemic, South Korea’s travel and tourism industry contributed 4.4 percent (or 87.5 trillion won) to the country’s gross domestic product in 2019. This figure is expected to drop to only 2.7 percent (or 54.2 trillion won) in 2020, which would represent a staggering loss of 38 percent.

Additionally, the industry was responsible for the maintenance of about 1.3 million employment in 2019, a number that dropped to little more than 1.2 million in 2020 as the pandemic had a devastating impact on the sector.

Nevertheless, the global tourism body’s most recent EIR report revealed that the country’s travel and tourism industry saw a slow recovery in the year 2021. This was caused by harsh and very disruptive travel restrictions.

Its total contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached almost 55.9 trillion in the previous year, representing a year-on-year increase of only 3%.

Additionally, the travel and tourism industry had a recovery of just under 2,000 employment, which represents a positive growth of approximately 0.2 percent to more than 1.2 million total positions.

The sector’s contribution to the economy and employment could have been higher if it weren’t for the impact of the Omicron variant, which led to the recovery faltering around the world and many countries reintroducing severe travel. Consequently, the sector’s contribution to the economy and employment was lower than it could have been.

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