LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), June 14 (SeeNews) – Slovenia’s tourism and travel industry contributed 1.4 billion euro ($1.6 billion) directly to the country's economy in 2016, equivalent to 3.5% of its gross domestic product (GDP), the World Travel&Tourism Council (WTTC) said on Wednesday.
The direct GDP contribution of the country's tourism and travel industry is forecast to increase by 4.4% in 2017, and to rise by 4.2% annually in the 2017-2027 period, to 2.2 billion euro or 4.1% of total GDP in 2027, the WTTC said in its Travel&Tourism Economic Impact 2017 report.
The total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP was 4.96 billion euro or 12.6% of GDP in 2016, and is forecast to rise by 4.3% in 2017.
The total contribution of Travel & Tourism includes its wider impacts, i.e. the indirect and induced impacts, on the economy, the WTTC explained.
Travel and tourism investment in Slovenia in 2016 stood at 633.4 million euro and the WTTC expects it will rise by 5.2% in 2017.
Leisure travel spending - inbound and domestic - in Slovenia totaled some 3.2 billion euro last year and is expected to grow by 4.6% in 2017.
Slovenia's travel and tourism sector generated 32,000 jobs directly in 2016 and this is expected to rise by 3.2% next year.