A report prepared by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) confirms that the tourism sector surprisingly provides twice the number of jobs as finance. There were one hundred and eight million direct tourism jobs and a total of two hundred and ninety two million including indirect ones. Tourism is also a more inclusive industry as it generates so many jobs in spite of contributing half to global GDP as does finance. The share to GDP stands at more than ten percent which is still more than mining, banking, agriculture, automotive and chemicals manufacturing. It is also expected to grow at four percent annually over the next decade. The growth is equitably high across most regions on the planet.

Source:http://www.eturbonews.com/157113/wttc-global-tourism-supports-twice-many-jobs-financial-sector

Uploaded Date:19/06/2017

Chinese tourists are now sought after worldwide. This is due to their high numbers and new found affluence. Digital marketing campaigns are being run to connect overseas travel agencies with Chinese outbound tourism forums. One of the innovative methods of this is using Virtual Reality (VR). VR based tools are generally few in China and expensive. The market is right now restricted to Facebook’ Oculus, Samsung’ Gear, Google Dar Dream, Sony Play Station and HTC Vive. But its market is increasing as shown by recent sales on Alibaba. Tourism Ireland for example has partnered with China Youth Travel Service broadcasting them the Wild Atlantic Way using VR techniques.

Source:http://menafn.com/1095426699/Tourist-destinations-bet-on-VR-marketing-to-lure-Chinese

Uploaded Date: 18th May 2017

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has come out with its biennial tourism consulting report on best travel spots in terms of competitiveness. Spain has once again topped this ranking, while India has gained twelve spots to rise to 40^th rank. France and Germany are placed immediately below Spain. A new entrant in the top five is Japan. As an overall region, Asia-Pacific saw the highest growth. Azerbaijan has been among the top gainers at number 71, thirteen spots. On the other end of the scale, Yemen has finished bottom of the 136 nations assessed, closely followed by African nations Burundi and Chad. As per this report, there exist more than two hundred and ninety million travel jobs.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/spain-tops-the-travel-and-tourism-competitiveness-list-2017/articleshow/58248937.cms?from=mdr

Uplaoded Date: 17th May 2017

The World Economic Forum has carried out a tourism consulting assignment to gauge the countries with the best travel industry in 2017. Globally, Spain has been ranked 1. France follows suit. Germany, Japan and the UK occupy the next three spots. Counting down from six to eight are USA, Australia and Italy. Canada and Switzerland round off this list. A separate list was brought out for the Middle East region. As expected, the UAE tops this category followed by Qatar and Bahrain. Following them off are Saudi Arabia, Oman and Jordan. The there is Lebanon and Kuwait. Rock bottom on this list is Yemen.

Source:http://m.gulfnews.com/guides/travel/10-countries-with-the-best-travel-and-tourism-industries-in-2017-1.2010039

Uploaded Date: 16th May 2016

A Myanmar based travel company Flymya has gone from nil revenue to one of over a million dollars in just a year. Its success has clearly proven that digital marketing can enable startups in the travel and tourism space to go global from inception. However high social traffic does not always correspond with a jump in the top line, as it could reflect high bounce rate and reduced conversion. To reduce bounce rate, one can use paid or organic search options along with referrals. In the first three months, Flymya invested in flight search widgets and Google Ad Words. This was followed over the next quarter by a company Facebook page and corresponding ads on social media. The next three months were used up by curating the content and aligning the same for SEO purposes. The final three months were then spent on engaging with popular travel writers and bloggers.

Source:https://www.forbes.com/sites/joeescobedo/2017/04/10/how-this-myanmar-travel-company-went-from-0-to-1-5m-revenue-in-a-year/#3713e62f328d

Uploaded Date: 16th May 2017

A tourism consulting report has been prepared by Skift on the state of international tourism competition under six parameters. In terms of quality of tourism infrastructure, Austria takes the top spot followed by Spain, USA, Portugal and Croatia. Under aviation infrastructure, it is Canada that finds itself on top followed by USA, UAE, Australia and Hong Kong. The perception towards international openness charts visa requirements and agreements in regional trade or bilateral aviation. Here it is Singapore on top, followed closely by Australia, Chile, Colombia and New Zealand. Visa policies are generally more liberal now than they were back in 2015. More than eighty five percent of countries have a more liberal visa policy while more than half of them have fewer non-tariff barriers as per the World Economic Forum’s business research titled “Executive Opinion Survey”. Environmental concerns have worsened in all the major markets as well as for the world average. The final chart confirms that the better the perception on any country’s environment, higher are the tourist arrivals.

Source:https://skift.com/2017/04/13/the-state-of-global-tourism-competition-in-6-charts/

Uploaded Date: 13th May 2017

The Stonewall Resort in the Lewis County has proven to be a cash cow for the growth of travel and tourism in the state of Washington’s Lewis County. As per the figures released by the Division of Tourism, there has been a threefold increase in revenues in just over a decade contributed by the sector within the county. Majority of the visitors up to two-thirds of the total, come from the state of West Virginia while other states contribute the rest. Tax revenues have likewise increased substantially. Stonewall alone employs more than three hundred and fifty employees at a time, generating substantial number of tourism jobs on its own.

Source:http://www.theet.com/westonnews/stonewall-resort-has-million-travel-tourism-impact-in-lewis-county/article_9cd7a857-e6ff-577d-a661-85535cc832ed.html