31/10/2003
October 31 - Paphos, Cyprus. The latest statistics from the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Monitor, released by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) in Paphos, Cyprus earlier today, reveals that Luxembourg, Maldives and Aruba are overall leaders in providing an open and liberal framework helping to attract foreign, direct investment to the Global Travel & Tourism industry. The Monitor also revealed that the top three most competitive nations in terms of social development are Norway, Bermuda and the USA.
The World Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Monitor tracks a wide range of information, which indicates to what extent a country offers a competitive environment for travel & Tourism development. Supported by the Christel de Haan Tourism & Travel Research Institute at the University of Nottingham, the World Travel & Tourism Council's updated and expanded Monitor aims to highlight the importance of long-term planning and the need to factor Travel & Tourism into all government policy developments and decisions.
The significance of the Monitor is that Travel & Tourism is one of the largest sectors of the world economy, responsible for over 10 per cent of global GDP and 200 million jobs worldwide. The industry is strategically important to virtually every country as it is growing and incoming visitors bring precious foreign currency.
Ufi Ibrahim, WTTC Vice President, Development, said: "WTTC's competitiveness data will help governments benchmark themselves against other countries. Compelling economic data such as this will assist the more dynamic nations to take positive action, stimulating their tourism economies. Only two weeks ago, Maison de la France, France's national tourism organisation, was allocated a 30 per cent increase in funding following an in-depth WTTC report predicting that China would overtake France as the world's top tourism destination."
The monitor can be accessed by visiting the World Travel & Tourism Council's web site, www.wttc.org/NU_compmon/Monitor.htm. Its functionality has recently been upgraded to allow the user to make an unlimited selection of countries and to compare results instantly.
ENDS
Best Performers in Price Competitiveness
- Laos
- The Gambia
- China
- Swaziland
- Nicaragua
- Togo
- Zimbabwe
- Indonesia
- Bangladesh
- Philippines
Best Performers in Infrastructure
- Australia
- Sweden
- Canada
- USA
- Austria
- Hungary
- Cyprus
- Finland
- Slovak Republic
- Switzerland
Best Performers in Technology
- Finland
- USA
- Iceland
- Norway
- Sweden
- Luxembourg
- Denmark
- Singapore
- Netherlands
- Hong Kong
Best Performers in Openness
- Luxembourg
- Maldives
- Aruba
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Antigua & Barbuda
- Samoa
- Bermuda
- Saint Lucia
- Bahamas
Best Performers in Social
- Norway
- Bermuda
- USA
- Hong Kong
- Finland
- Australia
- Sweden
- Iceland
- Switzerland
- Japan
Best Performers in Environment
- Congo, Republic
- Spain
- Finland
- New Zealand
- Norway
- United Kingdom
- Madagascar
- Uganda
- Niger
- Paraguay
About the Competitiveness Monitor
The Competitiveness Monitor is based on a set of social and economic data that are available and comparable across countries. It is useful for governments, policy makers, Travel & Tourism companies, investors, academics and all other interested parties. The constituent data is grouped into eight categories, as described below.
Price Competitiveness
Tourism Price Competitiveness Index (TPCI) shows the tourism price index across countries. It is computed using the Hotel Price Index and Purchasing Power Parity Index.
Human Tourism
The International Human Tourism Index measures the achievement of human development in terms of tourism activity. The Travel & Tourism Sector takes account of people's influence in various areas of tourism activity. It includes indices that look at the economic impact of Travel & Tourism demand, consumption, exports, imports, balance, personal and business travel and the numbers of arrivals and departures.
Infrastructure
The Infrastructure Index shows the level of infrastructure development, combining the Road Index, the Sanitation Index and the Water Access Index. The Railway Index is not included because of the limited data available. Source: The World Bank's World Development Indicators.
Environment
This indicates governments' awareness towards environmental aspects of development using population density, CO2 emissions and the ratification of environmental treaties as appropriate indicators.
Technology
This index shows the advances in modern technological systems and infrastructure, using data regarding telephone mainlines, mobile phones, high technology exports and Internet hosts.
Human Resources
Human resources development is an important part of Travel & Tourism. Using data regarding life expectancy, illiteracy rates, education, employment, population, training, skills and gender indicators this indicator shows the competitiveness of the quality of human resources in each country.
Openness
These indices take into account tourism openness using data including: visa requirements, the extent to which a country is open to international tourism, trade openness and taxes on international trade. This information has often been ignored in past research. It accords with the economic growth literature findings that a country's openness to trade is a further significant determinant of growth.
Social
The Social Development indicator uses data from daily newspapers, personal computers, television sets and total crimes recorded.
For more information, please contact Ufi Ibrahim at ufi.ibrahim@wttc.org.
