By Kang Seung-woo
Korea ranked 32nd out of 139 countries in this year’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, with several unfavorable factors putting the nation behind its neighbors.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) released its fourth edition of the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) Tuesday and the biennial report ranked Korea 32nd with 4.71 points out of 10, one notch lower than two years ago.
Switzerland topped the list for the second straight year with 5.68 points, followed by Germany and France, which scored 5.5 points and 5.41 points respectively.
Two other European countries, Austria and Sweden, rounded out the top five.
The United States, Canada and Singapore were the three non-European countries to make the top 10 this year.
In the Asian-Pacific region, Korea came in sixth. Singapore ranked first scoring 5.23 with Hong Kong the runner-up with 5.19 points and Australia coming in third. The WEF said, “Korea’s strengths lie in its excellent ground transport and ICT infrastructure, which were ranked 18th and eighth respectively, and its rich cultural resources, listed at fifth.”
However, its overall appeal is held back by a weak affinity for travel and tourism that placed it 120th, low prioritization of the sector making it 94th and its relative costliness as a destination, at 96th.
The WEF started releasing the TTCI in 2005 with the aim of providing a comprehensive strategic tool for measuring “the factors and policies that make it attractive to develop the travel and tourism sector in different countries.’’ By providing detailed assessments of the travel and tourism environments in countries worldwide, the results can be used by all stakeholders to work together to improve the industry’s competitiveness in their national economies, thereby contributing to national growth and prosperity. It also allows countries to track their progress over time in the various areas measured.