The World Economic Forum has released the 2017 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report ranking Portugal at 14.
Rankings are a wonderful concept whose underpinnings are a complete mystery. However ranked last was Yemen at 2.44 points and at the top of the list was Spain at 5.43 points. Out of a maximum of 7. Portugal came in at 4.74 points behind Australia at 5.10 but ahead of a raft of great destinations including New Zealand, Greece, China, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway. The Yemen tourism office was closed for comment.
The World Economic Forum has, for the past 11 years, engaged leaders in travel and tourism to carry out an in-depth analysis of the Travel and Tourism competitiveness of 136 economies across the world. This index measures “the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable development of the travel and tourism sector”.
Compared to last year’s results, Portugal jumped one place in the ranking.
Portugal scored best on Tourism Service Infrastructure (4th place) and Safety and Security (11th place).
Interpretation of data is always subjective but nevertheless, there is no doubt that tourism contributes significantly to the Portuguese economy (perhaps over 16% of GDP) and it is important that Portugal climbs up that ranking ladder.