TRAVEL & TOURISM CITY TRAVEL & TOURISM IMPACT 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY W ith 54% of the world’s population living in urban areas, cities have become global economic hubs. These urban centres are drivers of growth, innovation and job creation, which will continue to attract more people who will come to live, do business and discover them. In fact, by 2050, 68% of the global population is expected to live in cities. This growth is translated in the rise of city tourism - a trend which is forecasted to last. CITIES REPRESENT 45% OF GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL With over half a billion trips taken to cities annually, metropoles have become catalysts of global travel, driving signi?cant increases in Travel & Tourism within city boundaries and for wider country destinations. In e?ect, in the past decade, travel to city destinations has grown more rapidly than total international travel demand. This growth directly generated $625 billion or 6.7% total GDP across the 72 cities in this study, while the industry generated 3.2% of global GDP. EMERGING AND DEVELOPING MARKETS CONTINUE TO RISE In the past decade, there has been a clear shift from North to South and West to East. This is particularly visible in the rankings of top global city destinations by GDP, with ten of the top 20 largest cities by market size and seven of the top 20 by GDP contribution located in the Asia-Paci?c region. This is even more apparent when looking at the fastest growing cities in terms of direct Travel & Tourism GDP over the past decade, where all top ten cities a