THE TRAVEL & TOURISM

COMPETITIVENESS REPORT 2019

TRAVEL AND TOURISM AT A TIPPING POINT

Preface
In 2018, according to the World Tourism Organization, the number of international
tourist arrivals worldwide reached 1.4 billion, two years before it was predicted.
Due to this quick growth, the prediction that international arrivals will reach 1.8
billion by 2030 may be low. A good news because this presents an enormous
potential for the sector and the economies globally as travel become even easier.
However, it must be taken into account that the term “overtourism” is becoming
more seen in our society.

Overtourism occurs when there are too many visitors to a particular destination, so
it exceeds their tourism carrying capacity. Also, is used to represent the negative
impact tourism can have on that place, its residents and visitors, and often the
result of congestion and overcrowding from poor tourism management.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) defines the tourist carrying capacity as
“the maximum number of people that may visit a tourist destination at the same
time, without causing destruction of the physical, economic, and sociocultural
environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors’ satisfaction.”
This is why a bad management of tourism can cause a risk to ongoing
development of the industry.

Additionally, the theme of this year’s edition of the Travel & Tourism
Competitiveness Report 2019 is “Travel and Tourism at a Tipping Point”.
This report is a principal product of the Platform for Shaping the Future of Mobility,
which brings together world leaders to ensure travel and transportation systems
meet 21st century demands.

Besides, it provides a valuable tool for the companies and other sectors to
understand and anticipate emerging trends and risks in global travel and tourism,
adapt their policies and practices, and accelerate new models that ensure the
permanence of this important sector. This combination allows stakeholders to
combine insight and action into accelerating change, and we invite leaders to
engage with our platform.

Finally, this report is based on the dedicated collaboration of a network of

distinguished thinkers who provided their knowledge and ideas for this production.
We are grateful to our community of Data and Industry Partners for sharing their
continuous knowledge and perspectives on industry transformations and
challenges.
Executive Summary
This report serves as a strategic benchmarking tool for policy-makers, companies
and other sectors to advance the future development of the Travel & Tourism
(T&T) sector by providing unique insight into the strengths and development areas
of each country and their economy to enhance industry competitiveness.

Therefore, it works as a platform for multistakeholder dialogue to understand and

anticipate emerging trends and risks in global travel and tourism, adapt their
policies, practices and investment decisions, and accelerate new models that
ensure the permanence of this important sector.

The report’s results demonstrate the healthy growth of the industry, with increased
competitiveness worldwide set against the slower improvement and adoption rates
of necessary infrastructure and sustainable tourism management practices
respectively. An analysis of country/economy and regional performance provides
interested and responsible stakeholders with an integrated opportunities for not
only driving competitiveness, but ensuring that the right policies, infrastructure and
management systems are in place for welcoming the tourism demand that such
competitiveness will activate—while preserving the tourism assets, both natural
and cultural, that the industry depends upon.

Results Overview
As has been an ongoing trend over the last four years, T&T competitiveness
continues to improve worldwide. The TTCI 2019 results show that air
transportation, digital connectivity and international openness are advancing in a
global context. Air transport infrastructure improvements show an increase on
route capacity and the number of airlines providing services in individual countries.

More economies are now able to take advantage of the growing list of T&T digital
services due to the increasing number of people using the internet for these
purposes. Travel has also become, for the most part, less expensive and safer,
with the Price Competitiveness pillar.

Lastly, T&T is increasingly being prioritized by stakeholders around the world for
the favourable perceptions of the government prioritization, increased industry
funding and more effective marketing campaigns.

The results also show that future demand for transportation services, especially air
transportation, might overcome improvements in infrastructure capacity, but the
T&T sustainability can be affected for the continued rise in deforestation, air
pollution and species endangerments point to potential gaps between policy and
the application.