The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013

Table 7: The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2013: Sub-Saharan Africa
exhibitions held in the country. Infrastructure in South
Africa is also well developed for the region, with air
transport infrastructure ranked 43rd and a particularly
good assessment of railroad quality (46th) and road
quality (42nd). Overall, policy rules and regulations are
conducive to the sector’s development (ranked 29th); this
is an area where the country has improved steadily over
the past few assessments, with well-protected property
rights and few visa requirements for visitors. Indeed,
tourism continues to be one of the five priority sectors
in the country’s growth plan, and the government has
reviewed tourism legislation in an effort to streamline it
further. However, there are also some areas of weakness
that have brought down the country’s overall ranking.
Safety and security remains quite worrisome (ranked
117th), as does the level of health and hygiene (87th)—
the result of low physician density and concerns about
access to improved sanitation. Related to this, human
resources are also negatively affected by the poor health
of much of the workforce, with a low life expectancy
(129th, at 52 years) driven by high rates of communicable
diseases such as HIV (137th). Improving the health of the
1.1: The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2013
T&T regulatory
SUBINDEXES
Business environment T&T human, cultural,
OVERALL INDEX framework and infrastructure and natural resources
Country/Economy
Regional
rank
Overall
rank Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank Score
Seychelles 1 38 4.51 47 4.94 42 4.35 48 4.26
Mauritius 2 58 4.28 32 5.16 55 4.04 93 3.65
South Africa 3 64 4.13 81 4.44 59 3.93 57 4.03
Cape Verde 4 87 3.87 79 4.45 66 3.72 107 3.45
Namibia 5 91 3.77 89 4.30 70 3.62 115 3.38
Gambia, The 6 92 3.73 72 4.50 93 3.27 111 3.43
Botswana 7 94 3.71 84 4.38 91 3.31 112 3.43
Kenya 8 96 3.66 108 3.98 105 2.98 60 4.01
Rwanda 9 105 3.56 78 4.46 117 2.74 104 3.49
Senegal 10 107 3.49 111 3.91 113 2.84 88 3.71
Zambia 11 108 3.46 102 4.11 122 2.69 98 3.60
Tanzania 12 109 3.46 118 3.67 125 2.68 59 4.02
Uganda 13 116 3.39 116 3.71 121 2.70 79 3.76
Ghana 14 117 3.38 113 3.86 108 2.94 117 3.35
Zimbabwe 15 118 3.33 117 3.67 116 2.76 101 3.56
Swaziland 16 119 3.31 107 4.02 106 2.96 135 2.94
Ethiopia 17 120 3.29 122 3.60 127 2.65 97 3.61
Cameroon 18 121 3.27 123 3.58 124 2.68 102 3.56
Malawi 19 124 3.22 115 3.77 135 2.48 113 3.43
Mozambique 20 125 3.17 121 3.64 120 2.72 130 3.15
Côte d’Ivoire 21 126 3.15 133 3.31 118 2.73 114 3.41
Nigeria 22 127 3.14 135 3.26 114 2.83 118 3.33
Burkina Faso 23 128 3.12 120 3.64 134 2.55 129 3.16
Mali 24 129 3.11 128 3.45 129 2.61 121 3.28
Benin 25 130 3.09 127 3.46 130 2.61 126 3.20
Madagascar 26 131 3.09 132 3.33 119 2.73 127 3.20
Lesotho 27 135 2.89 126 3.46 132 2.60 139 2.62
Guinea 28 136 2.88 136 3.24 137 2.38 134 3.03
Sierra Leone 29 137 2.87 129 3.43 138 2.36 137 2.81
Burundi 30 138 2.82 130 3.40 139 2.33 138 2.73
Chad 31 139 2.61 139 2.90 140 2.11 136 2.82
© 2013 World Economic Forum
workforce is of urgent concern for the future of the T&T
sector, as well as for all other sectors in the economy.
Additionally, this year South Africa has experienced
an increase in fuel prices (77th) and ticket taxes and
airport charges (105th), which have diminished its price
competitiveness.
Namibia reaches 5th place the regional rankings,
coming in at 91st overall. The country benefits from its
rich natural resources, with rich fauna and a pristine
natural environment. Indeed, environmental sustainability
is prioritized to some extent in the country (ranked 36th),
which is critical given the importance of the quality
of the environment for Namibia’s tourism. In addition,
ground transport infrastructure is somewhat developed
by regional standards (60th). In order to further develop
the sector, a more conducive policy environment will be
important. For example, despite efforts in recent years, it
remains costly and time consuming to start a business.
Health and hygiene is also not up to international
standards (106th): the country has few doctors and
insufficient access to improved sanitation and drinking
water. More generally, improving the country’s human
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