The World Travel & Tourism Council has announced it will hold its 15th Global Summit in Madrid, Spain, in April 2015.

The Global Summit, which is the biggest annual gathering of tourism leaders, will be held on April 15th-16th 2015 and is to be hosted by Ministerio de Industria, Energía y Turismo del Gobierno de España; Comunidad de Madrid and Ayuntamiento de Madrid.

The venue of the next Global Summit 2015 was presented today in Madrid, with the attendance of WTTC president David Scowsill; Isabel Borrego, secretary of state of tourism of the government of Spain; Ignacio Gonzalez, president of Comunidad de Madrid; and Ana Botella, mayor of Madrid.

Scowsill said: “The WTTC Global Summit is the most influential Travel & Tourism event of the year, bringing together around 700 leaders, to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing our industry today.

“Travel is a major generator of jobs and economic wealth globally, contributing nine per cent to global GDP and providing one in 11 of all jobs on the planet.

“The Global Summit will ask what more the public and private sectors can do to generate long-term sustainable growth in tourism across the world.”

Spain is a major tourism economy.

According to WTTC data the contribution of the industry to Spain’s overall economy is $161 billion – the seventh highest of any country in the world – and supports 2.7 million jobs.

Similarly, UNWTO ranks Spain second in international tourism receipts, behind only the Unite States, and third in terms of international arrivals.

Last year was been a historic year for Spain after receiving 60.6 million tourists, 5.6 per cent more than the previous year.
Scowsill continued: “I am very pleased that Madrid has been chosen as the host for the 15th Global Summit in April 2015.

“It will be held in Europe for the first time since 2007, providing the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the economic and social importance of tourism to consumers and governments in Europe and across the world.

“Spain is one of the largest tourism economies in the world and hosting the Global Summit will enable its capital to showcase its tourism assets.”

The 2014 WTTC Global Summit will be held in Hainan, China, April 24th-25th.