MONET 2030: Tourism employment

SDG 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Goal description

«[…] Sustainable economic growth will require societies to create the conditions that allow people to have quality jobs that stimulate the economy while not harming the environment. Job opportunities and decent working conditions are also required for the whole working age population. »

Excerpt from Swiss target 8.9: Switzerland is appealing and successful as a tourist destination, the available potential is exploited and resource-efficient growth is generated. […]

Significance of the indicator
The indicator shows the number of jobs linked to tourism in full-time equivalents. Tourism activities generate revenue and create jobs. They offer development opportunities for peripheral and rural regions which are not generally attractive locations for companies. In this respect, an increase in jobs linked to tourism is a step towards sustainable development.

Help for interpretation
The indicator does not distinguish between regions. It is therefore not possible to determine if tourism activities really benefits peripheral and rural regions. In addition, it does not provide any information on the sustainability nature of these activities which may cause damage to landscapes and ecosystems, cause an increase in pollution due to traffic or involve the consumption of natural resources. Lastly, the indicator does not provide any information on the quality of jobs or the salary levels that employees receive.

International comparability
The indicator is comparable with the recommendations of the World Tourism Organization.

Synthesis

The indicator shows the number of jobs linked to tourism in full-time equivalents. The data come from the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), which are summary statistics compiled to measure the direct economic impact of tourism. Tourism is not recorded in the National Accounts (NA) as a separate activity, so its value added cannot be directly extracted. Tourism, unlike other economic sectors in the national accounts, is defined by the demand side.: tourism is not the production of goods or services of a particular sector of the economy – tourism is what tourists demand, regardless of which goods or services that might be. Tourists are travellers on a trip outside their usual environment. The demand created by tourism thus affects many different sectors, even if only slightly in some cases. Conversely, no one sector can be described as one hundred per cent tourism-based – even a certain proportion of pre-eminent tourism services such as overnight stays in hotels is accounted for by guests who could not be defined as tourists. However, because the system of national accounts is based on a particular number of sectors that covers the entire economic structure of a country, the “tourism sector” cannot be included in the core system of national accounts; instead, it must be accounted for outside the national accounts system – hence the term “satellite account”.

The TSA is perfectly compatible with the notions and definitions of the NA, as well as with the recommendations issued by the World Tourism Organization.

FSO – Tourism Satellite Accounts

Excerpt from Swiss target 8.9: Switzerland is appealing and successful as a tourist destination, the available potential is exploited and resource-efficient growth is generated. […]

International target 8.9: By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products.