PODGORICA (Montenegro), April 4 (SeeNews) – The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) said it expects the direct contribution of the travel and tourism industry to Montenegro's economy to rise by 9% in 2018 to a total of 500.3 million euro ($614.8 million).
The direct contribution of the travel and tourism industry to the Montenegrin economy amounted to 459.1 million euro, or 11% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, the WTTC said in its Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2018 report on Montenegro.
The total contribution of the tourism industry to the Montenegrin economy, including the effects from investment, supply chain and induced income impacts, amounted to 988.2 million euro in 2017, or 23.7% of GDP, and is expected to grow by 8.9% to 1.076 billion euro in 2018, WTTC said.
The direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP is expected to grow by 4.2% annually on average to 752.6 million euro, or 13.3% of GDP, while the total contribution is projected to rise by 3.9% annually to 1.582 billion euro, or 27.9% of GDP, by 2028.
The travel and tourism industry generated 14,500 jobs directly in Montenegro last year, and this is forecast to grow by 4.5% in 2018 to 15,000, or 7.7% of employment. By 2028, Travel & Tourism is forecast to support 45,000 jobs, or 21.5% of total employment, an increase of 1.3% per annum over the period.
The industry attracted capital investment of 369.8 million euro in 2017 and it is expected to rise by 6.4% in 2018 and by 4.2% annually over the next ten years to 596.1 million euro in 2028. Travel and tourism’s share of total national investment will rise from 36.4% in 2018 to 41.7% in 2028, the WTTC added.
($ = 0.813749 euro)