Competitiveness of Croatian tourist industry improves, Spain still global leader, WEF report shows

The competitiveness of the Croatian tourist industry has improved over the past years, relying on tourist service infrastructure and environmental sustainability, while human resources and price competitiveness need improving, the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019 shows.

Croatia ranked 27th among 140 countries, scoring 4.5 points. In the previous report, released in 2017, it placed 32nd among 136 countries, with 4.4 points.

Croatia scored best on tourist service infrastructure, ranking 5th, and environmental sustainability, ranking 14th, up from 21st place in the 2017 report.

It also scored well on natural resources, ranking 20th, and health and hygiene, placing 22nd, three spots down from the previous report. It affirmed its good result on international openness, ranking 27th.

Croatia's biggest weakness in the latest report was the business environment, which put it in 123rd place, compared with 114th place in the previous report.

The country also scored poorly on human resources and the labour market, ranking 103rd, down from 85th place in 2017, and price competitiveness, placing 93rd, up from 100th spot two years ago.

Among other categories, Croatia made a marked improvement on prioritisation of travel and tourism, moving up from 77th to 57th place, but deteriorated on safety and security, slipping from 24th to 35th place.

Spain affirms its position as global leader

Spain again took the top spot on the WEF's Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index, scoring 5.4 points. It was followed by France, Germany, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. European countries convincingly dominated the top ten, with Italy placing 8th and Switzerland 10th. 

"As travel and tourism growth continues to outpace predictions, travel hotspots will start to feel their infrastructure and services under pressure to meet demand," the WEF says.

Improved competitiveness in the travel and tourism sector is important considering that the industry contributed over 10% to the world GDP and about the same to global employment in 2018, the WEF says, citing the World Travel and Tourism Council. This contribution is expected to rise by almost 50% in the next decade due to the expanding global middle class, particularly in Asia.

"With travel barriers and travel costs declining, many countries have been significantly increasing their competitive position in global tourism," said Christoph Wolff, Head of Mobility at the World Economic Forum. "Countries can leverage this opportunity to generate economic and development returns, but they must address gaps in infrastructure and environmental protection to make sure these returns can be achieved over the long term," he added.
(Hina

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