The Travel & Tourism (T&T) industry is slowly recovering from the economic downturn, with the strong recovery in emerging economies compensating somewhat for the still weaker mature markets in Europe and North America. In this context, this fourth edition of The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report is being released at a time when the industry is looking for ways to develop new market segments and attract new customers.

Indeed, Travel & Tourism remains a critical economic sector worldwide, with the potential to provide economic growth and development internationally. A growing national T&T sector contributes to employment, raises national income, and can improve the balance of payments. Thus the sector is an important driver of growth and prosperity, and, particularly within developing countries, it can also play a key role in poverty reduction.

Although developing the T&T sector provides many benefits, numerous obstacles at the national level continue to hinder its development. In this context, five years ago the World Economic Forum, together with its Industry and Data Partners, embarked on a multi-year research effort aimed at exploring various issues related to the T&T competitiveness of countries around the world. This year’s Report is published under the theme “Beyond the Downturn,” which reflects the forward looking attitude of the sector as it aims to ensure strong growth going into the future.

The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index

Although developing the T&T sector provides many benefits, numerous obstacles at the national level continue to hinder its development. The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) aims to measure the many different regulatory and business related issues that have been identified as levers for improving T&T competitiveness in countries around the world. Through detailed analysis of each pillar and subpillar of the Index, businesses and governments can address their particular challenges to the sector’s growth.

The TTCI has been developed within the contextof the World Economic Forum’s Industry Partnership Programme for the Aviation, Travel & Tourism sector. The Index was developed in close collaboration with our Strategic Design Partner Booz & Company and Data Partners Deloitte, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). We have also received important feedback from a number of key companies t hat are Industry Partners in the effort, namely Airbus, Bombardier, Etihad Airways, Gulf Air, Hertz, Jet Airways, Jumeirah, Rolls-Royce, Silversea, SWISS, and Visa.

 It is based on three broad categories of variables  that facilitate or drive T&T competitiveness. These categories are summarized into the three subindexes of the Index:

·         the T&T regulatory framework subindex;

·         the T&T business environment and infrastructure subindex; and

·          the T&T human, cultural, and natural resources subindex.

The first subindex captures those elements that are policy related and generally under the purview of the government; the second subindex captures elements of the business environment and the “hard” infrastructure of each economy; and the third subindex captures the “softer” human, cultural, and natural

elements of each country’s resource endowments.

Each of these three subindexes is composed in turn by a number of pillars of T&T competitiveness, of whichthere are 14 in all. These are:

1. Policy rules and regulations

2. Environmental sustainability

3. Safety and security

4. Health and hygiene

5. Prioritization of Travel & Tourism

6. Air transport infrastructure

7. Ground transport infrastructure

8. Tourism infrastructure

9. ICT infrastructure

10. Price competitiveness in the T&T industry

11. Human resources

12. Affinity for Travel & Tourism

13. Natural resources

14. Cultural resources

Executive Summary

The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011 © 2011 World Economic Forum