If you're reading this, the chances are you're part of the world's fastest growing industry, tourism and hospitality. If you're still around in 2010, you'll be a part of what is expected to be one of the world's largest industries, second only to agriculture.
According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank, tourism already provides direct or indirect employment for 231 million people, or one out of every 10 workers worldwide. It accounts for 11% of all international consumer expenditure, 11.3% of all capital investment and 6.7% of all government spending. Tourism is also the world's largest tax contributor with an estimated $800b (£478b) in personal and corporate taxes in 1999.
In other words, you're part of an industry that's emerged as a leading economic sector worldwide, which not only boosts trade but has also opened up countries that have lagged behind in economic development. For many parts of the world, including numerous countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, South America and now Afghanistan and Iraq, the tourism and hospitality industry is a crucial vehicle for economic progress, poverty alleviation and recovery from conflict.
According to Caroline Cain, tourism specialist at the IFC, tourism and hospitality businesses are essential to developing countries' economies and post-conflict situations. Job creation is first on the list. "No sector creates more jobs than tourism," she says. "It favours both the skilled and the unskilled, including the most disadvantaged groups like women."
The recently reopened Intercontinental hotel in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, for example is now the city's second-largest employer after the United Nations. While the assassination of the tourism and transport minister in February last year confirmed fears that mainstream tourism is still a long way off, the hotel is currently undergoing significant refurbishment and is doing a healthy trade accommodating non-governmental organisations, banks and international business visitors.
According to Dominic Medley, author of the first guide to Kabul in the past 20 years, new hotels and restaurants, including the rebuilding of the Hotel Kabul by the Aga Khan and a new home-delivery sandwich business run by Afghan women, are springing up every day. "Tourism could eventually be a real tool for redevelopment here," he says. "Then the Afghans could realise what they have to show the world."
Tourism doesn't stop there, however. It is often the largest source of both foreign exchange and government revenues through taxes on entering and exiting the country and extra levies on things such as hotel rooms.
The tourism and hospitality industry has an extensive reach, acting as a major catalyst to agribusiness, agriculture, textiles and construction. New roads, airports, water systems and electricity lay the foundations of a tourism industry and generate jobs and improve the lifestyle of local people.
The IFC has invested in about $400m (£238.7m) in 200 hotel projects over the last 20 years with these factors in mind. "Hotels can be a critical part of a country's business infrastructure," Cain says. "People who come to a post-conflict area to do the rebuilding work need places to stay and hold meetings. The hotels create jobs and then act as a vital training ground for further hotel development."
As well as bringing solid economic benefits to developing and post-conflict countries, tourism also brings less tangible profits. According to founder and president of the International Institute of Peace Through Tourism (IIPT), Louis D'Amore, there is no global force more powerful than tourism that can contribute to peace.
The IIPT was formed in 1986 as a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to fostering and facilitating tourism initiatives which contribute to international understanding and co-operation, an improved quality of environment, the preservation of heritage and poverty reduction. Six Continents Hotels and M”venpick Hotels & Resorts were major sponsors at the last IIPT summit in February.
"If you look at the world's poorest countries there are often few options other than tourism for development," D'Amore says. "And without peace, there's no tourism, so it's in our own interest to encourage development and at the same time expand our markets and discover new tourism products."
D'Amore also points out that the impact of travel and the internet appear to be encouraging some degree of responsibility or connection among people worldwide. He points to the level of anti-war sentiment generated by the latest conflict in Iraq and a recent survey by Time magazine in the US in which 90% of respondents said yes to the question: are you interested in making a difference? Ethical and forward-thinking policies, he says, will "make employees feel better about the companies they work for and create a more loyal and committed staff".
Tourism does not always work to the benefit of developing or post-conflict countries, however. Cain maintains some degree of public involvement must form part of private development projects to protect the natural environment, avoid overdevelopment and create sustainable tourism. She points to overdevelopment in parts of Egypt and the Spanish coast as examples of tourism out of control.
The tourism and hospitality industry, though, across the leisure, corporate and academic sectors, is a force to be reckoned with.
"Most people believe that poverty is a source of conflict, D'Amore says. "And, in the history of post-conflict, the first industry that begins to take hold is tourism. In Northern Ireland and in Eastern Europe, hotels were the first organisations to stake an investment there. During the Cold War, it was exchanges between the East and West that began the process of reconciliation. The travel and tourism industry has a responsibility to the world, and it needs to recognise that."
Rwanda
Rwanda is today most often thought of in connection with the genocide of 1994, when up to a million Rwandans - an eighth of the population - were killed in a devastating episode of ethnic cleansing.
In the late 1980s, however, this tiny, central African country was steadily building a successful tourism industry based on gorilla-tracking. It was Rwanda's third-largest industry after coffee and tea production.
Tourism peaked in the country in 1989-1990, and then crashed in 1992 with the start of the civil war and then genocide.
In 1995, international tourism expenditure in Rwanda had fallen to $10m (£6m), down from $23m (£13.8m) in 1990. The number of international arrivals dropped off the scale in 1994 from a total of 16,000 in 1990.
Since 2000, the number of visitors to the mountain gorillas has steadily increased and in 2002, more than 5,500 gorilla passes at $250 (£150) were issued. Tourism is already proving a vital tool for rebuilding a country that has experienced unimaginable atrocities.
"The rebirth of tourism is incredibly important to Rwandans because it implies acceptance after what has happened," says Janice Booth, co-author of the Bradt guide to Rwanda, currently the only English language guide to the country.
While gorilla permits are limited to 10,000 a year because of the necessary protection of the animals, Rwanda's tourism organisation ORTPN is now looking to develop wider tourism attractions. Memorial sites and centres for post-genocide and peace and reconciliation studies are expected to attract more visitors, as should the refurbishment of the country's other nature reserves.
Most of the money generated is being ploughed back into publicity - Rwanda had a stall at the World Travel Market last year and is expected to have a larger presence this year - but some money also goes back into the communities surrounding the parks. Improved transport infrastructures benefits all and the arrival of tourists encourages local business initiatives like the production of souvenirs.
New hotels are again beginning to open up, but a spokesman for the Kigali-based Hotel des Mille Collines says very few tourists come to the capital. "I hope tourism does develop more," he says. "But we need more infrastructure - more roads and airports first."
Croatia
In 2003, travel and tourism is expected to contribute 22.4% of Croatia's GDP and account for 294,000 jobs. According to a report by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), these jobs represent 27.4% of total employment in the country - making tourism a crucial part of Croatia's economy.
In the years following the outbreak of war in 1990, however, tourism virtually collapsed across the Balkan states. International tourism arrivals to Croatia dropped from about seven million in 1990 to just over one million in 1992. By 2001, however, tourism arrivals had risen again to 6.5 million.
While the Balkans war meant Croatia has lagged behind in building up its tourism industry and hotel infrastructure, the complete lack of development over several years has helped the country avoid some of the mistakes made by competitors - excessive construction and the exploitation and overconcentration of natural resources.
With the correct mix of government and private investment, tourism is expected to accelerate even further over the next 10 years, with steady growth in tourism GDP, tourism-related employment, tourism demand, capital investment and government expenditure.
According to the WTTC, if managed effectively, travel and tourism can also be an important catalyst for the development of other economic sectors within Croatia. This includes manufacturing, construction and the service industries. It can also help to protect the country's primary assets, namely its largely unspoilt natural and cultural environment.
To this end, the government is progressively reducing its direct involvement in tourism, implementing tough fiscal policies and accelerating the privatisation, proliferation and upgrading of hotels.
More information
The International Finance Corporation: www.ifc.org
The International Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT): www.iipt.org or www.worldbank.org
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC): www.wttc.org
The Kabul Survival Guide: http://www.kabulguide.net or the new Bradt mini-guide available at the end of this month
Bradt Travel Guides: www.bradt-travelguides.com;
tel: 01753 893 444
Rwanda tourism office: Ortpn@rwanda1.com
Croatian National Tourist Office: www.croatia.hr;
e-mail: info@cnto.freeserve.co.uk; tel: 020 8563 7979