GDP finally back on track

NEW research compiled by The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has shown that travel and tourism recovery in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth is helping each city’s GDP make a steady rebound from the pandemic.

The Cities Economic Impact Report, which was sponsored by Visa in partnership with Oxford Economics, revealed that all three cities are now showing solid signs of recovery, albeit at different paces, with Perth showing the slowest trajectory, whose GDP contribution is forecast to hover at around half of what it was in 2019, at close to $2.8 billion.

Tourists are also finally starting to flow back to our shores in greater numbers after a period of lean COVID isolation, the report noted, however big Aussie cities are still struggling to keep pace with global averages when it comes to visitor spend.

“Despite seeing signs of recovery in int’l visitor spending and more tourists coming back to cities, this has taken longer in Australia due to its key source markets, such as China, extending their own border closures,” the report said.

“But finally, these three Australian cities are beginning to bounce back, whilst international visitor spend is still on average 46% lower in 2022 than it was in 2019, all three cities are showing strong year-on-year increases.”

Meanwhile on the jobs front, the report indicated that both Melbourne and Sydney are seeing stronger bounce backs; in Sydney job levels in 2023 are predicted to rise to over 118,500, only 16% below pre-pandemic levels, while in Melbourne job volumes are anticipated to be around 115,000, just 6% shy of pre-COVID levels.