The World Travel & Tourism Council says that travel and tourism spending worldwide last year topped $6 trillion. According to research released by WTTC and Accenture, that outlay was an increase of 5.7 percent from global spending a year earlier. In looking forward, the Tourism Satellite Accounting research forecasts that the industry will grow by 4.6 percent in real terms this year to a total of $6.5 trillion. In the longer term, the outlook is for further steady growth, with an annual rate of increase of 4.2 percent predicted from 2007 to 2016.
