The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019

The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019 benchmarks 140 economies across 14 pillars, finding that while global competitiveness is improving—particularly in air transport and digital connectivity—infrastructure capacity and sustainable management practices are lagging. Spain remains the top performer, while Europe and Eurasia is the most competitive region. The report warns of a 'tipping point' where rapid growth may overwhelm destination carrying capacities and degrade natural and cultural assets.

• Global travel and tourism competitiveness is generally improving, with 101 out of 132 economies that were covered in both 2017 and 2019 showing score increases.
• Spain is the most competitive economy for the third consecutive report, followed by France, Germany, Japan, and the United States.
• Europe and Eurasia is the most competitive region globally, hosting six of the top 10 economies and leading in cultural resources, infrastructure, and enabling environments.
• Asia-Pacific is the second-most competitive region and the fastest-growing, characterized by the world's most impressive air transport infrastructure and a strong balance of natural and cultural resources.
• The Americas ranks as the third-highest scoring region, leveraging strong natural assets but hindered by low scores in safety, security, and the general business environment.
• The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region shows significant improvement but remains below the global average due to low international openness and safety concerns.
• Sub-Saharan Africa is the least competitive region, facing severe gaps in health, hygiene, and overall infrastructure, despite having significant untapped potential for natural tourism.
• There is a growing risk of 'overtourism,' where destinations exceed their tourism carrying capacity, leading to the destruction of physical, economic, and sociocultural environments.
• While air transport connectivity and route capacity have increased, the quality of air transport infrastructure is improving at a much slower rate, risking future bottlenecks.
• Environmental sustainability is a critical constraint, particularly in Asia-Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa, where deforestation, air pollution, and species endangerment persist despite treaty ratifications.
• Digital connectivity is advancing globally, with a significant increase in mobile broadband subscriptions enabling more economies to leverage digital T&T services.
• India showed the most significant improvement among the top 25% of ranked economies, rising from 40th to 34th place.

APA

World Economic Forum (2019). The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TTCR_2019.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019. 2019. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TTCR_2019.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019 |date=2019 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TTCR_2019.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2019travel, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{The Travel \& Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2019}, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TTCR_2019.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }