travel & tourism competitiveness 2009

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The World Economic Forum announced the release of its 2009 edition of The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report. With the general theme of “Managing in a Time of Turbulence” the report provides insight on the difficulties that the sector is experiencing during the current economic downturn. Issues such as the impact of oil prices and how they affect different types of tourism-based economies when they are largely dependant on long-haul arrivals.

At a time when competition for fewer travellers will heat up, the report provides a framework to understand areas where each country performs better and those where it must improve. Specially in the current economic climate, Tourism as an industry will receive plenty of attention from governments for a couple of reasons:

• Tourism is one of the largest employers in most countries and an industry that provides a quick ramp-up for a young workforce, making it a likely target for economic stimulation packages.
• Tourism is a trigger for improving consumer and business confidence, as well as increasing commercial ties

The report provides rankings for 133 countries, out of which the top 10 are:

1. Switzerland
2. Austria
3. Germany
4. France
5. Canada
6. Spain
7. Sweden
8. United States
9. Australia
10. Singapore

Another way of looking at the rank is selecting those countries that have improved significantly from the 2008 report, suggesting there is an orchestrated effort to improve their Tourism industry and additional infrastructure will soon translate into better destinations:

Perhaps these countries deserve a closer look to find out what they are doing right.

Juan

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