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

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

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.