World Economic Forum ranks Australia seventh for tourism competitiveness

Australia has been assessed as the seventh most competitive tourism market in the world, according to the World Economic Forum’s latest Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report.

The report looks at 141 countries and ranks them on how well they could deliver sustainable economic and societal benefits through their tourism sector, which it says contributes to the development and competitiveness of a country.

As one of Asia-Pacific’s more advanced economies, Australia was the top performer in the region, edging ahead of Japan (9th), Singapore (11th) and Hong Kong (13th). New Zealand ranked 16th in the report.

While Australia ranks second globally for natural resources, boasting the largest number of Word Heritage sites, its improvement in ranking can also be attributed to the revamp on visa requirements. This includes an expansion of the online visa application system and self-processing border entry facilities for United States and United Kingdom e-passport holders.

Source: World Economic Forum 2015

Earlier this investment broker CLSA stated "now is the time for government and industry to pull together to revamp its tourism industry in order to compete with rival (Chinese) tourist destinations such as Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea, which are all actively vying for the Chinese tourist dollar."

According to a Tourism Australia spokesperson, “investment in new tourism infrastructure - particularly CBD hotels - is vital to growing the Australian tourism industry and achieving long term, sustainable growth. This is certainly a key area of focus and one which is being addressed through initiatives such as our ongoing and successful investment partnership with Austrade.”

The Federal Government’s $40 billion plan to double tourism expenditure by 2020 includes two major projects - Sydney’s $10 billion Barangaroo waterfront development and a new Starwood W Hotel on Brisbane’s Queens Wharf.

For the first time, Spain led the 2015 TTCI rankings as the third most-visited country in the world, with around 60.6 million arrivals.

Europe recorded up a total of six countries in the top 10 - the region with the most T&T-competitive economies.

Australia's ranking was an advancement on finishing in 13th place in 2011 and 11th in 2013.

15th April 2015 - WORLD TRAVEL & TOURISM COUNCIL ECONOMIC IMPACT REPORT HIGHLIGHTS VALUE OF TOURISM

26th March 2015 - STUDY REVEALS FUTURE OF CHINESE TOURISM MARKET