Rio de Janeiro, March 20 (IANS) Brazil’s tourism industry has experienced a strong growth becoming a major driver of the country’s economic development, generating 8.1 million jobs annually and earning some $77.41 billion in revenue. According to an estimate prepared by the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute, the sector had grown by 16.26 percent in 2005, as compared to the previous year, Spain’s EFE news agency reported Thursday.

Tourism activities represented 15.1 percent of the jobs in the service sector and contributed 11 percent of the value addition, according to the study “Economy of tourism: Macroeconomic perspectives 2000-2005″ released Wednesday.

Because of its varied product mix, the industry is able to reach consumers at all levels.

As a result, the country experienced large inflows and outflows of tourists over the review period, even in the face of numerous negative aspects affecting the travel and tourism around the globe, such as wars, terrorism weather changes and, most importantly, escalating fuel prices, the report observed.

The study, prepared in collaboration with the tourism ministry and the Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur), found that 59.23 percent of the jobs in the sector are informal.

Of the 4.8 million informal tourism workers, 3.2 million are independent workers and 1.6 million are employees without formal labour contracts.