Tourism is one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors, and a driver for socio-economic progress through the creation of employment, foreign exchange generation and infrastructure development, with impact on airlines, the cruise ship industry, construction, transportation and telecommunications.
Activities associated with Tourism and Leisure are travel arrangement and reservation services, and a variety of arts, entertainment and recreational services, in food-service and drinking establishments, amusement and theme parks, shopping malls, music venues, theatres, wellness & spa, and gambling establishments, and cultural visits to museums, historical sites.
According to Euromonitor International, overall growth is set to be very strong, at 8.4% over the period 2017-2022. China is the largest source of tourism expenditure, growing by 10.9% over 2017-2022, driven by GDP growth, and the rise in middle-class households, and by 2022, China will be the world’s largest source of outbound tourism demand, with 128 million trips, overtaking the US as the country with the highest propensity for travel abroad.
Outside of Asia – whereby Japan has enjoyed the strongest increase in China arrivals growth - the US and France are likely to benefit the most from the Chinese growth.
The largest travel reservation brands worldwide are Ctrip and Booking.com, with Ctrip recording sales of 60 billion USD, compared to Booking.com’s 33 billion USD.
Hospitality
Demand and consumer expectations have continued to expand desiring additional conveniences. Hospitality and leisure companies need to meet the challenges of today’s market by understanding and establishing strategies to meet consumer trends, technology, competition and concerns for public safety.
Luxury categories are benefiting from consumers trading up from mid-market brands to luxury, and budget accommodation still holds strong, despite being challenged to keep up with fast evolving consumers’ expectations.
Affiliated hotel chains, such as Accor, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, International Hotels Group, Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide, and Independent hotels account for the greater part of the accommodation industry, with the former affiliated chain hotels accounting for about two thirds of the market.
Restaurants & Foodservice
The restaurant and foodservice segment, includes all types of restaurants in the full-service, such as, family dining, casual dining and fine dining restaurants, and quick-service segments, as well as foodservice operations in stadiums, airlines and cruise ships. Quick-service, coffeehouse and pizza delivery chains are major players in the foodservice and restaurant market.
McDonald’s, for example, operates or franchises more than 34.000 restaurants worldwide, generating revenues in excess of 27 billion U.S. dollars.
Starbucks is the market leader in the coffee house chain segment with almost 15 billion U.S. dollars in revenue and almost 20.000 stores worldwide.