The second British Business Group – Travel and Tourism event, held April 16, 2014, kicked off to a fantastic start with almost 80 attendees, no doubt enticed by the speaker, hospitality industry veteran Gerald Lawless, President & Group CEO of Jumeirah Group.

As a member of the World Travel and Tourism Council and member of the Global Agenda Council for Aviation, Travel and Tourism of the World Economic Forum, Mr. Lawless presented the benefits of travel and tourism to the global economy as well as sharing the latest information on plans for World Expo 2020. Highlights of the presentation include:

• According to World Travel & Tourism Council, the industry accounts for 9% of global GDP share with an employment share of 8.7%.

• Tourism in the UK is the third largest source of foreign exchange earnings.

• In Dubai, 11 million tourists were welcomed in 2013 with a target of 20 million in 2020. The city is the seventh most visited in the world.

• 277,149 jobs in travel and tourism are expected to be created for Dubai’s World Expo 2020.

• Four GCC countries to benefit from UK visa waiver; UAE, Oman, Qatar from January 2014 and Kuwait to follow later in 2014.

The next BBG Travel and Tourism event, hosted by Karen Osman, is in the planning. Log on to http://bbg.olasoft.com/index.html to learn about other events on the BBG calendar.