NEW DELHI: India has moved up by three notches to 65th rank out of 140 countries in terms of travel and tourism industry competitiveness, a report by World Economic Forum has said.
According to the fifth Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report by WEF, India has been ranked in the 11th place in the region and 65th overall, gaining three positions since the last edition.
“As with China, India is well assessed for its natural resources (ranked 9th) and cultural resources (24th), with many natural and cultural World Heritage sites, rich fauna, many fairs and exhibitions, and strong creative industries,” the report said.
Among the other emerging market economies, however, India was ranked below its peers, as Brazil was placed in the 51th position, Russia 63rd and China enjoyed a rank as high as 45.
“India also has quite good air transport (ranked 39th), particularly given the country’s stage of development, and reasonable ground transport infrastructure (ranked 42nd), although the quality of roads and of ports require further improvement,” the report said.
The WEF report noted India is also a relatively price competitive destination (20th), even in the regional context.
The report however, said that some aspects of its tourism infrastructure remain somewhat underdeveloped, with very few hotel rooms per capita by international comparison and low ATM penetration.
Another area of concern is the policy environment, which is ranked 125th because of the long time and high cost required to start a business and a restrictive visa policy.
Other areas requiring attention are health and hygiene standards (109th) and the country’s human resources base.
Switzerland, Germany and Austria lead the world in terms of their travel and tourism industry competitiveness. Others in the top ten list are Spain (4th), United Kingdom (5th), United States (6th), France (7th), Canada (8th), Sweden (9th) and Singapore (10th).
The report highlighted the potential of travel and tourism industry to boost economic resilience and job creation and said that initiatives such as smart visa policies are seen as critical for industry to maintain growth momentum.
“The travel and tourism industry has weathered the global downturn and is now playing an important role in helping tackle serious global challenges, including youth unemployment, economic development and environmental sustainability,” World Economic Forum Director, Head of Aviation, Travel & Tourism Industries Thea Chiesa said.
Chiesa further noted that “the challenge for the industry and its stakeholders today is to maintain this powerful contribution to economic growth and employment…” -PTI
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