Tourism Jobs Numbers Increase Despite Modest Introduction of Artificial Intelligence
Photo Credit: Tourism jobs continued to grow worldwide last year. Pictured is a tour group at the Louvre in Paris. Flickr / Wee Viraporn
Skift Take
Travel executives love to say that their employees are at the heart of their brands and they are on the front lines of the guest and visitor experience. Employees will toast to that notion, but hope they won't have to tussle with a robot or virtual assistant to prove their worth.
Many travel industry executives are optimistic that new technologies such as artificial intelligence can make their businesses smarter and more efficient while plenty of travel industry employees wonder if they'll eventually be replaced by robots and self-driving cars.
Well, these are indeed early days, but emerging technologies do not appear to be slowing travel industry job growth — not yet.
Gloria Guevara, president and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council, said travel jobs globally grew last year even as new technologies and platforms made their debuts, albeit relatively modestly compared with what may be in the offing.
One in five jobs that were created globally in 2017 were in the travel industry, according to WTTC's data. Some 119 million jobs worldwide last year were directly attribu
