WEF ranks US #1 in Travel & Tourism Development Index for 2024
Each year the WEF ranks the economies of world countries - 119 of them in 2024 - on the factors and policies that enable the sustainable and resilient development of the country's travel and tourism sector and its contribution to overall development .
The Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) framework consists of 5 major dimensions, each of which has several component elements:
Enabling Environment
- Business environment
- Safety and security
- Health and hygiene
- Human resources and labor market
- Information and Communications Technology (ICT) readiness
Travel & Tourism Policy and Enabling Conditions
- Prioritization of travel & tourism
- Openness to travel & tourism
- Price competitiveness
Infrastructure and Services
- Air transport infrastructure
- Ground and port infrastructure
- Tourist services infrastructure
Travel & Tourism Resources
- Natural resources
- Cultural resources
- Non-leisure resources
Travel & Tourism Sustainability
- Environmental sustainability
- Socioeconomic impact
- Demand sustainability
After rating each country on each component element on a scale of 1 to 7, averaging those scores into scores for the 5 major dimensions, and combining those together for an overall country score, the US came out at #1 with an overall score of 5.24 out of 7.
Other countries scoring in the top 10 were:
- Spain 5.18
- Japan 5.09
- France 5.07
- Australia, Germany 5.00
- UK 4.96
- China 4.94
- Italy 4.90
- Switzerland 4.81
Travel & tourism component elements on which the US performed best were:
- Non-leisure resources - factors that drive business and other non-leisure travel, like major cities, big corporations and leading universities: 6.63
- Information & Communication Technology Readiness: 6.32
- Natural resources: 6.23
- Air transport infrastructure: 6.15
Lowest ranks given the US were:
- Price competitiveness: 2.59
- Ground and port infrastructure 4.42
- Openness to travel & tourism: 4.78
- Travel & tourism demand sustainability: 4.83
Other countries getting notably high scores on component elements include:
- Austria - Health & hygiene: 7.00
- Germany - Health & hygiene: 6.86
- Singapore - Safety & security 6.82
- Qatar - Safety & security: 6.78
- Italy - Cultural resources: 6.74
- Japan - Cultural resources: 6.71
- Czech Republic - Health & hygiene: 6.70
All of those countries are classified by WEF as "high income" with mean per-capita annual incomes of greater than $13,486.
And all except for the US and Qatar are located in the WEF's Asia-Pacific or Europe & Eurasia regions.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international not-for-profit advocacy organization and think tank based in Cologny, Switzerland that facilitates connection between public and private stakeholders to build initiatives for cooperation and progress. The World Economic Forum is chaired by Founder and Executive Chairman Professor Klaus Schwab, and guided by its Board of Trustees. The WEF 2024 Annual Meeting took place in Davos, Switzerland 15-19 January.
