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India has climbed to the 39th position in the latest World Economic Forum's "Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024", as travel improves after the pandemic.
The United States (US) led the rankings and India was the top performer in South Asia and among the lower-middle-income nations, said the annual report on Tuesday.
India was 54th in 2021, but changes in index criteria limit its direct comparison with 2022 and 2023.
Spain, Japan, France, and Australia feature are the top four countries in the 2024 list, in that order.
According to the index, which was compiled in collaboration with the UK-based University of Surrey, India demonstrates high price competitiveness (18th) and possesses competitive air transport (26th) as well as ground and port (25th) infrastructure.
India's robust natural (6th), cultural (9th), and non-leisure (9th) resources contribute to its travel appeal, with the country being one of only three to secure a top 10 ranking across all resource pillars, the WEF said.
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Despite a decline compared to 2019, India still performs well in terms of sustainability in travel and tourism demand, particularly due to the increased prevalence of sustainable long stays among inbound visitors.
Like other countries, India's travel and tourism industry has felt the impact of global inflationary supply-side trends. This has led to a decline in price competitiveness, while the recovery of air transport and tourist services infrastructure hasn't reached the level seen in 2019.
India's overall TTDI score
The country's overall Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) score is 2.1 per cent lower than its 2019 level. Leading the index are high-income economies in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
"International tourist arrivals and the travel and tourism sector's contribution to global gross domestic product (GDP) are expected to return to pre-pandemic levels this year, driven by the lifting of Covid-19-related travel restrictions and strong pent-up demand," the WEF said.
"The travel and tourism sector’s post-pandemic growth continues, but its recovery has been mixed and operating conditions have been challenging. While 71 of the 119 TTDI-ranked economies increased their scores between the 2019 and 2024 editions, the average index score is just 0.7 per cent above pre-pandemic levels," said the report.
Recovery rates in international tourist arrivals
West Asia demonstrated the highest recovery rates in international tourist arrivals, surpassing the 2019 levels by 20 per cent, while Europe, Africa, and North and South America all exhibited robust recoveries of approximately 90 per cent in 2023.
The biennial index showcased the travel and tourism sectors of 119 countries across a spectrum of factors and policies. Germany secured the 6th position, followed by the UK, China, Italy, and Switzerland in the top ten rankings.
The findings underscored that high-income economies typically maintain more favourable conditions for travel and tourism development. This was attributed to conducive business environments, dynamic labour markets, open travel policies, robust transport, and tourism infrastructure, as well as well-developed natural, cultural, and non-leisure attractions.
T&T enabling conditions in developing economies
Conditions facilitating travel and tourism (T&T) in developing nations are progressively improving, yet much more effort is necessary to narrow the gap in enabling the sector.
Among the 71 economies that have seen enhancements in their TTDI scores since 2019, 52 belong to low to upper-middle-income brackets. Notably, only Saudi Arabia (+5.7%, moving from 50th to 41st) and the United Arab Emirates (+4.4%, climbing from 25th to 18th) from high-income economies rank among the top 10 most improved between 2019 and 2024. The rest are developing nations such as Uzbekistan (+7.8%, advancing from 94th to 78th), Côte d’Ivoire (+6.4%, progressing from 116th to 114th), Albania (+5.9%, moving from 78th to 66th), Tanzania (+4.5%, rising from 88th to 81st), and Indonesia (+4.5%, jumping from 36th to 22nd).
