Travel and Tourism at a Turning Point: Principles for Transformative Growth

The travel and tourism (T&T) sector is projected to contribute $16 trillion to global GDP by 2034, but faces critical 'tension points' including environmental degradation, labour shortages, and friction between visitors and residents. The report outlines ten guiding principles—ranging from committing to regenerative practices to bridging workforce gaps—and identifies five key enablers (infrastructure, finance, technology, people/skills, and regulation) necessary for a sustainable transition. It emphasizes a shift from restricting tourism to redistributing visitor flows and moving from impact minimization to active nature stewardship.

• Asia is positioned as the fastest-growing tourism economy, with T&T direct GDP contributions expected to exceed 7% across its regions between 2023 and 2033.
• Changing traveller demographics will be heavily influenced by India and China, which are estimated to account for over 25% of international outbound travel by 2030.
• The sector faces severe environmental pressures, currently accounting for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 10% of global energy consumption, with emissions potentially rising to 15% as the sector expands.
• Overtourism is framed as a problem of disproportionate visitor concentration rather than overall scale; for example, visitor-to-resident ratios in major cities like Dubai, Paris, and London are projected to increase by 2034.
• A critical labour and skills crisis exists, with the sector needing to fill over 100 million new jobs by 2034 while struggling with high turnover rates, such as in the UK where combined turnover reached 53% in 2022–2023.
• Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up 80% of the sector but suffer from a significant digital divide; for instance, only 32% of hospitality SMEs had employees with online devices compared to 83% in large companies.
• Global tourism faces substantial financial risks from disruptions, with potential cumulative revenue losses between $3 trillion and $6 trillion by 2030 due to pandemics, geopolitical events, and climate change.
• To support projected growth to 30 billion tourist trips by 2034, the sector will require massive infrastructure investments, including an estimated 7 million additional hotel rooms.
• Cultural heritage is threatened by homogenization and poor management, with 97% of survey respondents agreeing that locals are adopting tourist culture over their own traditions.

APA

World Economic Forum (2025). Travel and Tourism at a Turning Point: Principles for Transformative Growth. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Travel_and_Tourism_at_a_Turning_Point_2025.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Travel and Tourism at a Turning Point: Principles for Transformative Growth. 2025. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Travel_and_Tourism_at_a_Turning_Point_2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Travel and Tourism at a Turning Point: Principles for Transformative Growth |date=July 2025 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Travel_and_Tourism_at_a_Turning_Point_2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2025travel, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Travel and Tourism at a Turning Point: Principles for Transformative Growth}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Travel_and_Tourism_at_a_Turning_Point_2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }