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New
travel and tourism report focuses on difficulties facing
the sector
Switzerland,
Austria and Germany top Travel & Tourism Competitiveness
Index
Geneva,
Switzerland– Switzerland, Austria and Germany have
the most attractive environments for developing the
travel and tourism industry, according to the third
annual Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report,
released today by the World Economic Forum. France,
Canada, Spain, Sweden, the United States, Australia
and Singapore complete the top ten.
This year’s report, published under the theme of
‘Managing in a Time of Turbulence,’ reflects
the many difficulties the industry currently faces,
which must be overcome to ensure strong sectoral growth
in the future. This is particularly captured by the
topics covered in the analytical chapters, exploring
issues such as the impact of oil prices on the tourism
industry, the importance of price competitiveness for
attracting tourists, and the extent to which the TTCI
explains differences in travel intensity between countries.
“Our study aims to measure the factors that make
it attractive to develop the travel and tourism industry
of individual countries. The top rankings of Switzerland,
Austria, Germany, France and Canada 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 and tourism 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
to make business decisions and to add value to governments
wishing to improve their travel and tourism environments.
Rankings based on TTCI
The rankings are based on the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness
Index (TTCI) covering 133 countries around the world.
The TTCI uses a combination of data from publicly available
sources, international travel and tourism institutions
and 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 organisations) in the countries covered by
the report. The survey provides unique data on many
qualitative institutional and business environment issues.
The last part of the report contains detailed country
profiles for the 133 economies featured in the study,
providing a comprehensive summary of their overall position
in the Index rankings, as well as a guide to the most
prominent travel and tourism competitive advantages
and disadvantages of each. Also included is an extensive
section of data tables covering each indicator used
in the Index’s computation.
“To thrive, or even survive, in this period of
uncertainty and change, both the travel and tourism
industry, and destinations themselves will need to approach
the challenges in a holistic and systemic manner. This
would allow innovative ideas to emerge, new directions
to be taken, new alliances to be forged and profits
to be reaped. This comprehensive approach to travel
and tourism competitiveness taken in the report aims
to contribute to this discussion,” said Thea Chiesa,
Head of Aviation, Travel and Tourism at the World Economic
Forum.
“For the past four years, the World Economic Forum
has engaged key industry and thought leaders through
its Aviation, Travel and Tourism Industry Partnership
Programme to carry out an in-depth analysis of the travel
& tourism (T&T) competitiveness of economies
around the world. The goal is to construct a platform
for multistakeholder dialogue to ensure the development
of strong and sustainable national travel and tourism
industries capable of contributing effectively to international
economic development,” noted Klaus Schwab, Founder
and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
“This Index will help governments and the industry
to identify areas where support in the sector can show
big gains in the response to both the recession and
climate change. Tourism competitiveness is a major element
to be included in economic stimulation packages and
the Green New Deal. Tourism is one of the largest employers
in most countries and a fast-entry vehicle into the
workforce for young people and women. Encouraging travel
boosts consumer and business confidence. It strengthens
two-way trade and it promotes export income – particularly
for the poorest countries,” said Geoffrey Lipman,
Assistant Secretary-General, World Tourism Organisation
(UNWTO), Madrid.
Economic downturn forces new view
“The economic downturn forces a new view on a country’s
T&T policy by the local government and the T&T
industry to preserve the competitiveness of its destination.
Competition between destinations will heat up, as many
customers will manage their travel budget more tightly
for some time. Moreover, a fast-growing number of customers
have started making “green travel” part of
their buying decision. And new climate change regulation
schemes (e.g. emissions trading scheme ETS) will put
additional costs on destinations that underinvest in
a sustainable and climate neutral T&T infrastructure.
The local tourism players have to address both trends
in parallel: on the one hand attracting increasingly
budget sensitive customers by a superior marketing and
sales initiative in the short term, and rethinking their
T&T investment priorities under the emerging new
paradigm of sustainable travel and tourism on the other.”
said Jürgen Ringbeck, Partner and Senior Vice-President,
Booz and Company, Germany.
“Competitiveness is built with efficiencies across
the entire travel and tourism value chain. This study
highlights the benchmarks of best practice that will
determine winning destinations. Luring an airline to
start or increase transport links is critical in developing
tourism markets. But long-term success can only be built
with coordinated government policies. As governments
battle the economic crisis and build a more solid future
for their economies, ensuring a solid platform with
effective policy for aviation and tourism growth must
be a priority,” said Giovanni Bisignani, Chief
Executive Officer and Director-General of the International
Air Transport Association.
“In these turbulent times the tourism and travel
sector must not only focus on addressing immediate challenges
but also longer term sustainability. Adaptability, deeper
domestic tourism supply chains, ‘quality and skill’
investments, and diversity are of real importance and
characteristics clearly evident in the T&T Competitiveness
Index,’ said Alex Kyriakidis, Managing Partner,
Global Travel, Tourism and Leisure, Deloitte, United
Kingdom.
“Although there are many uncertainties as to how
long the current crisis will continue, and how deep
its impact will be, past experience has shown that travel
and tourism always rebounds from cyclical downturns
sometimes even stronger,” said Ufi Ibrahim, Chief
Operating Officer of the World Travel & Tourism
Council (WTTC).
“Many economic stimulus packages are currently
focusing on infrastructure development. The TTCI demonstrates
the importance of infrastructure provision for tourism
competitiveness. It’s time for industry and governments
to work jointly together to consider the implications
for tourism in infrastructure planning,” said Larry
Dwyer, Qantas Professor of Travel and Tourism Economics,
Australian School of Business, University of New South
Wales.
The World Economic Forum produced the report in close
collaboration with its Strategic Design Partner, Booz
and Company, and its Data Partners, which included Deloitte,
the International Air Transport Association (IATA),
the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN),
the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the World
Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). The Forum also received
important feedback from a number of its key Industry
Partners in the effort, namely Airbus, Abercrombie and
Kent, Bombardier, British Airways, Carlson, Etihad Airways,
Emirates Group, Hertz, Jet Airways, NetJets, Silversea,
Swiss International Airlines and Rolls-Royce. Several
thought leaders from these organisations also contributed
insightful papers addressing various aspects of sustainable
travel and tourism competitiveness.
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