The number of global travel and tourism jobs will nearly recover to pre-pandemic levels next year, according to a forecast.

Employment in the sector in 2023 will be just 2.7% below 2019 levels, the London-based World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) latest economic impact report predicted.

The industry body also forecast that the sector’s contribution to GDP will grow by 43.7% this year, 13.3% behind pre-pandemic levels.

It is expected to rise further in 2023, reaching just 0.1% below the 2019 total.

Speaking at the WTTC’s global summit in the Philippines, president and chief executive Julia Simpson said: “Over the next decade, travel and tourism will create 126 million new jobs worldwide.

“In fact, one in three of every new jobs created will be related to our sector.

“Looking to this year and the next, WTTC forecast a brighter future, with both GDP and employment set to reach pre-pandemic levels by next year.

“The recovery in 2021 was slower than expected due in part to the impact of the Omicron variant but mainly due to an unco-ordinated approach by governments who rejected the advice of the World Health Organisation, which maintained that closing borders would not stop the spread of the virus but would only serve to damage economies and livelihoods.”