Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019

India clocked the biggest improvement among the top performers in global tourism, jumping from 40th in 2017 to 34th in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The only lower-middle income country in the top-35 ranked countries.

• As per the report, China, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil and India -- which are not high-income economies but rank in the top 35 in the overall list -- stand out in the Cultural Resources and Business Travel Pillar through their combination of rich natural and cultural resources and strong price competitiveness.
• From a sub-regional perspective, the nation (India) has better air infrastructure (33^rd) and ground and port infrastructure (28^th), international openness (51^st) and natural (14^th) and cultural resources (8^th).
• Spain topped in the global rank list and followed by France, Germany and Japan, with the United States replacing the UK in the top five.
• In this ranking system (by WEF), 140 economies were ranked in four sub-indexes: enabling environment, travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions, infrastructure, and natural and cultural resources. Together, these four sub-indexes include a total of 14 pillars, which are used to score a country’s overall travel and tourism competitiveness.