A projection by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has stated that by 2024, Nigeria’s travel and tourism industry would contribute 1.6 per cent (N1.4 billion) to the nations Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Council, which stated this in its review of the sector in Nigeria, also projected that travel and tourism industry would support 1,194,000 direct employment in the next decadel, which represents 1.4 per cent total employment in the country.

According to the forecast, direct contribution of travel and tourism to GDP was N757.3 billion in 2013, which was 1.6% of total GDP in that year. It rose to 2.5% in 2014 and it’s expected to rise by 5.8 per annum from 2014 to 2024, which indicated N1.4billion in 2024.

Also, the council said that the total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP was N1,559.5 billion (3.2 per cent of GDP) in 2013. It rose by 1.9 per cent in 2014, and it’s expected to rise by 6.1 per cent per annum to N2,886.2 billion (3.4 per cent of GDP) in 2024.

The council noted that in 2013, travel and tourism directly supported 866,000 jobs (1.3 per cent of total employment). This, however, indicated a drop of 0.8 per cent in 2014. It however said that employment through the sector would rise by 3.3 per cent per annum to 1,194,000 jobs in 2024. In 2013, the total contribution of travel and tourism to employment including jobs directly supported by the industry, was 2.8 per cent of total employment, which was 1,837,000 jobs. It fell by 1.4 per cent in 2014 to 1,811,000 jobs and expected to rise by 3.6 per cent per annum to 2,592,000 jobs in 2024, which represented three per cent of total employment.

The council added that within the period, visitor exports generated N107.1 billion, which was 0.6 per cent of total exports in 2013; fell by 0.9 per cent in 2014. Nonetheless, it is expected to grow by 3.5 per cent per annum, from 2014 to 2024, to NGN149.7 billion in 2024, representing 0.6 per cent of total visitor exports. On investment, the sector in 2013 was N264.2 bilion or 4.8 per cent of total investment. It rose by one per cent in 2014, and estimated to leap by 5.1 per cent per annum over the next 10 years to N438.9 billion in 2024, representing 4.4 per cent of total investment in the sector.