The International Labour Organization (ILO) has identified several countries and regions with high employment growth and potential in the tourism sector due to several factors creating opportunities for foreign nationals.
According to ILO estimates, the global workforce has more than 230 million workers, constituting approximately 7.2 per cent engaged in tourism industries worldwide.
As of 2019, it was projected that 1 out of every 10 jobs globally and 1 out of 4 newly created jobs were associated with the tourism sector.
Also, when considering both direct and indirect employment, millions of jobs are generated by the sector. For example, Nairametrics earlier reported that Spain has 60,000 openings for temporary foreign workers in the hospitality industry.
Numerous studies have also emphasized the significance of the tourism industry in providing employment and income, particularly for women and youths which serves as a major source of economic diversification, especially in rural, remote, and local areas.
Tourism is recognized as a sector with significant labour intensity, playing a crucial role in offering employment opportunities for women, women entrepreneurs, and the youth on a global scale.
Within the tourism industries, the highest proportions of female employment are found in the food and beverages sector.
The Accommodation sector (any business that provides a place for people to sleep overnight) also exhibits substantial female representation in the workforce.
The food and beverage sector additionally features notable proportions of youth employment, along with other tourism industries such as sports and various forms of amusement and recreation.
This article, therefore, aims to spotlight countries with employment growth and potential in the tourism industry and highlight factors contributing to its growth.
These insights may prove valuable for foreign nationals seeking employment opportunities within the industry.
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Tourism-dependent small island nations and travel hubs
This comprises small island nations heavily reliant on tourism, such as the Caribbean islands, Pacific islands, and other island states like the Seychelles, Mauritius, and the Maldives. In these nations, tourism plays a pivotal role in employment, with the accommodation sector—especially short-term accommodation—contributing significantly to the tourism workforce.
This trend reflects the predominant international markets served by these destinations. Additionally, the travel logistics cluster, which comprises a minor share of tourism employment in most countries, can be prominent in these countries.
Notably, countries recognized as ‘travel hubs,’ such as the United Arab Emirates, may exhibit higher proportions of employment in the travel logistics cluster.
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Lower-middle, and upper-middle-income countries with large international and domestic tourism markets
These are countries where restaurants and food and beverage services account for the largest share of tourism employment.
In many middle-income countries in Latin America and Southeast Asia, the tourism sector accounts for high shares of total employment, but much of this employment is in the restaurants and food and beverage services industries, often followed by transportation (primarily by land) which caters as much to local, domestic consumption, in addition to international tourism.
In these two groups, the share of MSMEs in short-term accommodation activities is lower than in other groups, reflecting the presence of large hotel resorts in many countries.
This is also reflected in a relatively lower share of informal jobs and of workers on temporary contracts in this industry.
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Countries where land transportation accounts for the largest share of the tourism workforce
These are countries where the inclusion of land transportation in the tourism industry significantly increases the employment share of the sector.
This group’s countries are primarily low or lower-middle-income countries in Africa South Asia and Southeast Asia.
It also includes some lower-middle and upper-middle countries from the Arab States (e.g., Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan).
This is a case where international tourism receipts represent a significant percentage of total exports, but the share of tourism—and particularly of accommodation industries—in employment is not as high as would be expected (e.g., Lebanon and Ethiopia).
In this group, much of the tourism comes from nationals residing and/or working abroad with occasional visits to these countries.
Therefore, inbound tourism expenditure patterns are from residents rather than international tourists (e.g., spending on restaurants, food, and beverage services rather than on hotels and accommodation).
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European countries where arts, culture, sports, and recreation account for a significant share of the tourism workforce
These are countries regarded as upper-middle- or high-income countries, mainly in Europe, where the largest share of the tourism workforce is employed in restaurants and food and beverage services.
Also, arts, culture, sports, and recreation represent the second cluster of industries in terms of employment share.
