The United States dropped dramatically in the latest Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008. Last year’s report ranked the U.S. at 5th place; this year the rank was 7th place.
Switzerland, Austria and Germany have the most conducive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry, according to the second annual Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008. Australia, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden, Canada and France complete the top-10 list.
This year’s Report, under the theme Balancing Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability, places a particular focus on this issue, both through a reinforced environmental component of the Index used to measure travel & tourism (T&T) competitiveness and through topics covered by the analytical chapters. The Report includes an analysis of the rankings of the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI). It also features detailed profiles for the 130 economies covered, together with data tables for each indicator used in the Index’s computation.
The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008 is published by the World Economic Forum in close collaboration with our Strategic Design Partner, Booz Allen Hamilton, and our Data Partners: Deloitte, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IUCN-The World Conservation Union, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). We have also received important feedback from a number of key companies that are industry partners in the effort, namely Abercrombie & Kent, Bombardier, British Airways, Carlson, Emirates Airline, Hertz, Silversea Cruises Group, Swiss International Airlines and Travelport.
According to reports filed by TravelMole
Reasons for the US’s drop include other countries’ improving their transportation infrastructure and environmental protection efforts.
The researchers expanded the index from the 2007 report in an effort to capture the importance of environmental sustainability for the sector’s development.
The TTCR was developed as a tool to be used to identify the competitive strengths of individual countries as well as the barriers that impede the development of the sector.
The US ranks first for overall business environment and infrastructure, attributed mainly to its ability to meet high capacity air transport and tourism needs, including IT infrastructure.
The country ranks low on price competitiveness, placing 105th out of 130 countries.
With a relatively high number of World Heritage national sites and protected wildlife areas, the US ranks 2nd worldwide in natural resources. However, a perception exists that the country is not sufficiently protecting the environment, ranking 100th for environmental sustainability.
“The low score on this pillar is not only a result of relatively weak regulatory measures to combat global warming, but is also driven by inefficient energy consumption and the relatively high levels of air pollution in major cities,” said Justin Zubrod, Vice President at Booz Allen. He added:
“To attract more tourists in the long term, the US might consider adopting environmental policies that not only preserve natural assets but also change global perceptions about our leadership in environmentalism.”
Safety and security, at 119th place, are also of concern for the US. Aside from high costs associated with business needs for preventing crime and terrorism, the country also has among the highest rates of road traffic incidents.
The openness of US citizens toward foreign visitors is also ranked low, at 114th place. However, prioritization of travel and tourism has gone up from last year, from 47th to 21st place overall, though the industry still contributes only 3.8% to the GDP, compared with 6.3% for top-ranking Switzerland.
