People are getting out there and seeing the world.
According to the World Tourism Organization, there were more than 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals last year.
That’s great, but it also puts a big strain on local infrastructure and the environment. It’s one thing to invite someone over and quite another to set them on their happy way again without a trail of broken wine glasses.
So, which countries are best equipped to handle the rush?
That’s what the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019 aims to determine. The report measures 90 individual indicators across five categories to score countries on their travel-readiness. The five categories are:
- 1. Business environment
2. Safety and security
3. Health and hygiene
4. Human resources and labor market
5. ICT (information and communications technology) readiness
These are the 10 countries best equipped to welcome tourists in 2019:
- 1. Spain
- 2. France
- 3. Germany
- 4. Japan
- 5. United States
- 6. United Kingdom
- 7. Australia
- 8. Italy
- 9. Canada
- 10. Switzerland
So, pretty much the G8 minus Russia plus Switzerland and Australia.
Here’s a closer look at the results:
Canada scored particularly high in safety and security, environmental sustainability, and air transport infrastructure. Last year saw Canada welcome a record 21.1 million international tourists. If the year-on-year trend, in which more travellers visit Canada each year than the previous year, continues, we’ll see another record for 2019.
Happy travelling!