The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013

Each of these three subindexes is composed in turn
by a number of pillars of T&T competitiveness, of which
there 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
Figure 1 summarizes the structure of the overall
Index, showing how the 14 component pillars are
allocated within the three subindexes. The figure also
shows a notional 15th pillar on climate change. Although
we acknowledge its importance for the future of the
T&T sector, data constraints and difficulties related to
measuring various aspects of this phenomenon prevent
us from including the concept in the calculation. It
remains our intention to integrate this pillar into the Index
in the future as reliable data become available.
Each of the pillars is, in turn, made up of a number
of individual variables. The dataset includes both survey
data from the World Economic Forum’s annual Executive
Opinion Survey (the Survey), and quantitative data from
publicly available sources, international organizations,
and T&T institutions and experts (for example, IATA,
the IUCN, the UNWTO, WTTC, the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTAD], and
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization [UNESCO]). The Survey is carried out
among chief executive officers and top business leaders
in all economies covered by our research; these are
the people making the investment decisions in their
respective economies. The Survey provides unique
data on many qualitative institutional and business
environment issues, as well as specific issues related
to the T&T industry and the quality of the natural
environment.
The policy rules and regulations pillar captures the
extent to which the policy environment is conducive to
developing the T&T sector in each country. Governments
can have an important impact on the attractiveness
of developing this sector, depending on whether the
policies that they create and perpetuate support or
hinder its development. Sometimes well-intentioned
policies can end up creating red tape or obstacles that
have the opposite effect from that which was intended.
In this pillar we take into account the extent to which
© 2013 World Economic Forum
1.1: The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2013
foreign ownership and foreign direct investment (FDI)
are welcomed and facilitated by the country, how well
property rights are protected, the time and cost required
for setting up a business, the extent to which visa
requirements make it complicated for visitors to enter
the country, the openness of the bilateral Air Service
Agreements into which the government has entered
with other countries, and the commitments made within
the international trade regime to opening tourism and
travel services under the General Agreement on Trade in
Services (GATS).
The importance of the natural environment for
providing an attractive location for tourism cannot be
overstated, and it is clear that policies and factors
enhancing environmental sustainability are crucial for
ensuring that a country will continue to be an attractive
destination going into the future. In this pillar we measure
the stringency of the government’s environmental
regulations in each country as well as the extent to which
they are actually enforced. Given the environmental
impacts that tourism itself can sometimes bring
about, we also take into account the extent to which
governments prioritize the sustainable development
of the T&T industry in their respective economies. In
addition to policy inputs, this pillar includes some of the
related environmental outputs, including carbon dioxide
emissions and the percentage of endangered species in
the country.
Safety and security is a critical factor determining
the competitiveness of a country’s T&T industry. Tourists
are likely to be deterred from traveling to dangerous
countries or regions, making it less attractive to develop
the T&T sector in those places. Here we take into
account the costliness of common crime and violence as
well as terrorism, and the extent to which police services
can be relied upon to provide protection from crime
as well as the incidence of road traffic accidents in the
country.
Health and hygiene is also essential for T&T
competitiveness. Access to improved drinking water and
sanitation within a country is important for the comfort
and health of travelers. And in the event that tourists do
become ill, the country’s health sector must be able to
ensure they are properly cared for, as measured by the
availability of physicians and hospital beds.
The extent to which the government prioritizes
the T&T sector also has an important impact on T&T
competitiveness. By making clear that Travel & Tourism
is a sector of primary concern, and by reflecting this in
its budget priorities, the government can channel needed
funds to essential development projects for the T&T
sector. This can also send a signal of the government’s
intentions, which can have positive spillover effects such
as attracting further private investment into the sector.
Prioritization of the sector can be reflected in a variety
of other ways as well, such as government efforts to
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