The organisation that represents the global private sector in travel and tourism, WTTC (the World Travel and Tourism Council), which is a global authority on the economic and social impact of sector, confirms it is likely to move its head office outside of the UK for the first time in its history.
The Board of WTTC has endosed a plan to ensure the organisation continues to play the leading role in global travel and tourism and advocate for long-term, sustainable growth in the sector.
WTTC is considering whether to locate its headquarters in Italy, Spain or Switzerland. It has begun an evaluation assessment and is consulting with all of its staff currently based in London. WTTC’s own statistics show that, in a forecast for calendar year 2025, the sector is expected to be worth US$11.7 trillion, or 10.3% of global GDP and accounts for 371 million jobs, or 11% of total employment, worldwide. It also accounts for one in three new jobs created globally.
Brexit the reason?
The Chairman of WTTC, Manfredi Lefebvre, commented: “WTTC is a member-centric organisation and we owe it to members to explore all the options for our future structure. Brexit is one of the main factors in our decision to potentially move our headquarters beyond the UK. The benefits of a European head office include lower operational costs, EU single market access and recruitment flexibility of a multi-lingual talent pool.
“The high standard of research services our members, governments and the stakeholders around the world, receive will continue to be at the forefront of our work and we are confident we will attract high-quality talent in the wider European market, for all of our services to members globally.”
After a very successful Global Summit held in Rome, Italy earlier this month, WTTC is to hold its next Global Summit in Malta in September 2026.
