World Economic Forum scores Countries in Travel and Tourism

The World Economic Forum has launched its first-ever Travel & Tourism report analysing the drivers of competitiveness in travel and tourism of 124 countries around the world. Switzerland’s safety record and high-quality industry staff contributed to its topping the index. Hong Kong was the highest-ranked Asian country and the United Arab Emirates was the most competitive Middle Eastern country with an impressive ranking of 18th place.



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This report is important for me to identify key drivers of socio economic growth and developement. Would be great to locate exacxtly in an AQAL model its correspondence to technological innovations in LR Quadrant relative to LL changes.
 



The World Economic Forum's First Ever Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report

Geneva, Switzerland, 1 March 2007 - Switzerland, Austria and Germany have the most attractive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry, according to the very first ranking of its kind in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007, released today by the World Economic Forum. Iceland, the United States, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom complete the top ten list.

"Our study is not a ‘beauty contest', or a statement about the attractiveness of a country. On the contrary, we aim to measure the factors that make it attractive to develop the travel and tourism industry of individual countries. The top rankings of Switzerland, Austria and Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore demonstrate the importance of supportive business and regulatory frameworks, coupled with world-class transport and tourism infrastructure and a focus on nurturing human and natural resources, for fostering an environment that is attractive for developing the travel & tourism (T&T) sector," said Jennifer Blanke, Senior Economist of the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Network.

This cross-country analysis of the drivers of competitiveness in travel and tourism provides useful comparative information for making business decisions and additional value to governments wishing to improve their travel and tourism environments.

The rankings are based on the first-ever Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) covering 124 countries around the world. The TTCI uses a combination of data from publicly available sources, international T&T institutions and T&T experts, as well as the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum, together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the Report. The Survey provides unique data on many qualitative institutional and business environment issues. Further, for the purposes of this study and this specific report, a number of new questions related to T&T competitiveness were added to the Survey on issues such as the quality of destination marketing and the government's prioritization of the T&T industry. These questions provide entirely new data related to T&T competitiveness.

The TTCI measures the factors and policies that make it attractive to develop the T&T sector in different countries. It is composed of a number of "pillars" of travel and tourism competitiveness, of which there are 13 in all. These are:

1. Policy rules and regulations

2. Environmental regulation

3. Safety and security

4. Health and hygiene

5. Prioritization of travel and tourism

6. Air transport infrastructure

7. Ground transport infrastructure

8. Tourism infrastructure

9. Information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure

10. Price competitiveness

11. Human capital

12. National tourism perception

13. Natural and cultural resources

Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index


Country/economy

Rank

Score


Switzerland

 

5.66


Austria

2

5.54


Germany

3

5.48


Iceland

4

5.45


United States

5

5.43




Hong Kong SAR

6

5.33


Canada

7

5.31


Singapore

8

5.31


Luxembourg

9

5.31


United Kingdom

10

5.28


Denmark

11

5.27


France

12

5.23


Australia

13

5.21


New Zealand

14

5.2


Spain

15

5.18


Finland

16

5.16


Sweden

17

5.13


United Arab Emirates

18

5.09


Netherlands

19

5.08


Cyprus

20



5.07

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