Tourism Boosts EU’s Economic Development in 2024

By Shubhendra Anand , 21 March, 2025

Tourism has become one of the dominant industries in the European Union in 2024. It is ranked in the top five ecosystems for employment and value creation. Tourism is vital to the European Union's economic development in 2024.

Tourism has a considerable contribution to employment in the European Union. It has over nineteen million jobs, making up around nine percent of the total EU employment. According to the survey, the Employment Sector Contributes up to 9.2 percent of the total employment in the EU, which continues to tumble over the years. The fact that the subsector has the potential to create many jobs at many levels means this sector promotes inclusive growth from employment in hospitality and travel agency services to arts and entertainment. Between 2015 and 2018, it is evident that these sectors (tourism, digital, and construction) stood out in the gross value-added aspect and indicated the growing significance of the tourism sector within Europe. Retail, construction, and health are the only ecosystems that create value and employ more people within Europe.

The impact of tourism should not be seen purely in terms of its economic activity alone. It is of strategic importance for other branches of activities such as commerce, transport, and culture. The interdependence of the tourism supply and the abovementioned sectors results in the so-called economic multiplier effect. This encourages the purchase of more goods or services offered by local businesses as culture is shared and experienced through tourism. In 2024, generative AI is seen to be changing how things are done in the global tourism sector. By harnessing this technology, unique and tailored solutions for targeting travelers can be derived by taking the customer's history, how they behaved, their likes, and activities at any given time. The virtual assistants and chatbots offer complete day-long customer service, managing calls, making bookings, and even solving problems such as flight cancellations and changes.

The tourism sector is being transformed by generative AI in terms of customer experience, operational efficiency, and sustainability. Hence, technology is anticipated to have an even greater effect on the industry's development than it is now.