After USA, China, Japan, Germany and the UK, the Golden State of USA, California has emerged as the world’s sixth biggest economy. It is poised to take the fifth place following Brexit and is already well ahead of countries such as France, Brazil, Russia and Australia.
Tourism was one of the key factors that helped the state of California become the world’s sixth largest economy in 2015, according to a report released by Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.
California is about six times the size of Sri Lanka with a population about two and half times that of Sri Lanka whose GDP of $82.3 million was ranked 66th on the global scale in 2015 by the World Bank.
This one single state has had a bigger global economy than some of the largest economies in the world.
California had a gross state product of $2.5 trillion in 2015. That was behind only the United States’ gross domestic product of $17.8 trillion, which was followed by China ($10.9 trillion), Japan ($4.1 trillion), Germany ($3.6 trillion) and – for the moment, depending on how the Brexit decision plays out – the United Kingdom at $ 2.9 trillion.
Travel and Tourism played a large part in California’s growth to the world’s sixth largest economy. Tourists spent $122.5 billion in California in 2015 generating 1.064 million in direct employment. The re-spending of travel industry income by businesses and employees produces secondary effects.
California’s rise in the global rankings comes largely at the expense of Brazil, which is struggling economically, and France, which was burdened by a weaker currency.
