Africa’s Most Competitive Countries for Travel & Tourism – Top Ten Ranking for 2009

Ethiopia lags behind many African peers

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia June 16, 2009 (Ezega.com) -- The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) aims to measure the factors and policies that make it attractive to develop the Travel & Tourism sector in different countries. It was developed by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with various travel and tourism related world organizations and agencies. The index is based on three broad categories of variables that facilitate or drive Travel & Tourism competitiveness. Thesecategories are summarized into the three sub-indexes of the Index: (1) the T&T regulatory framework sub-index;(2) the T&T business environment and infrastructure sub-index; and (3) the T&T human, cultural and naturalresources sub-index. Each of these three sub-indexes is composed in turn by a number of pillars of T&T competitiveness, of which there are 14 in all. These are:

1. Policy rules and regulations

2. Environmental sustainability

3. Safety and security

4. Health and hygiene

5. Prioritization of Travel & Tourism

6. Air transport infrastructure

7. Ground transport infrastructure

8. Tourism infrastructure

9. ICT infrastructure

10. Price competitiveness in the T&T industry

11. Human resources

12. Affinity for Travel & Tourism

13. Natural resources

14. Cultural resources

Each of the pillars is, in turn, made up of a number of individual variables. The dataset includes both hard data and Survey data from the World Economic Forum. That table below shows the top 10 most competitive African countries for Travel and Tourism, as ranked by the World Economic Forum for 2009. Also shown in the table is how these countries fared among 133 countries in the world that were included in this survey, and a breakdown of their ranking in three sub-indexes that counted in the overall index.

Globally, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany scored top in Travel & Tourism competitiveness ranking – ranked number 1, 2 and 3, respectively.

Ethiopia is ranked 22 among African countries and 123^rd among the 133 world countries surveyed in this ranking. As shown in the chart, the country fared worse in Regulatory Framework, particularly in Health and Hygiene in which it scored zero. Ethiopia also scored very low in ICT and Tourism Infrastructure. These are technologies and services that allow tourists to travel inside the country easily and freely. The country can go a long way in boosting foreign income from travel and tourism by address these issues. This will mean, in part, having or enforcing laws for sanitation facilities at least in public establishments, and improving ICT infrastructure, including the internet, which is in a very deplorable situation in Ethiopia.

Source: World Economic Forum