The World Travel and Tourism Council (Â WTTCÂ ) pointed out in its report on the Economic Impact of Cities that Latin America is progressing positively in the reactivation of the sector, and highlighted the growth of RĂo de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in their direct contribution of Travel and Tourism to the GDP of each city, as well as to employment levels.
The Economic Impact of Cities report, produced in collaboration with Oxford Economics, analyzed key factors for the Travel & Tourism sector in 82 cities around the world, including contribution to GDP, employment and international spending.
In 2019, the Travel and Tourism sector contributed to Rio de Janeiro’s GDP with more than 3.2 trillion dollars, which corresponded to 3% of its total economy; but due to the pandemic, it suffered a 20.6% drop. In 2021 and 2022 it registered a recovery of 28.8% and 6.2%, respectively.
In this way, at the end of last year, the city’s tourism sector contributed almost 3.5 billion dollars, with which it managed to exceed its levels of contribution to the city’s GDP, as well as to the national one, compared to 2019, with 3.5 % and 8.6%, respectively.
Likewise, the level of jobs corresponding to the sector grew 8.5% compared to 2021, generating more than 172,740 direct jobs, that is, 3.1% of the total jobs in Rio de Janeiro.
The same report reveals that in 2022 international tourists spent almost 380 million dollars on the destination. As for domestic travelers, an income of more than 10 billion dollars was reported, which meant an increase of 13.5% compared to 2021. For its part, during 2019, Sao Paulo
had a contribution of 2.2% to the GDP of the city, which was equivalent to almost 6 billion dollars; but during the pandemic, it fell 31.3%. However, in 2021 and 2022 it had a recovery of 36.3% and 2.7%, respectively.
In this way, at the end of last year, the city’s tourism sector contributed 5.74 billion dollars, with which it managed to exceed its levels of contribution to the municipality’s GDP, as well as to the national one, compared to 2019, with 2.3% and 14.2 %, respectively. The city has seen a near-full recovery, just 4% below pre-pandemic levels.
In terms of jobs generated by the sector during the past year, there were more than 281,830 direct positions, a contribution of 2.2% of the total jobs in the destination and almost 13% of the total nationwide.
Traveler spending was also modified, presenting a contribution of .99 billion dollars in international tourists, while the growth of 24.2% was observed in domestic tourists, with an expense of 6.21 billion dollars;Â that is, 1.28 trillion dollars above that reported in 2019.
