Should the World Economic Forum’s global tourism competitiveness index be improved?

Hervé Honoré Epoh (Faculty of Economics Sciences and Applied Management, University of Douala-Cameroon, Douala, Cameroon, and )
Olivier Ewondo Mbebi (Faculty of Economics Sciences and Applied Management, University of Douala-Cameroon, Douala, Cameroon, and )
Fabrice Nzepang (Research Center on Innovation, Institutions and Inclusive Development, Faculty of Economics Sciences and Applied Management, Douala, Cameroo)

Tourism Critiques

ISSN: 2633-1225

Article publication date: 31 August 2023

Issue publication date: 27 November 2023

717

Abstract

Purpose

This research paper aim at providing a new approach of calculating the destinations competitiveness index. How can these variables been aggregated in other to reflect the realities of very distinct productive environments? We assume that: The weighting of variables provides a better measure of destinations competitiveness. Base on the Neo-Technological theory, after a life cycle differentiation, we used a panel data approach to calculate the weight of each variable as the spearman correlation coefficient of its contribution to tourism inflows growth. After integrating these weights, we came to the point that by applying an appropriate weight to its components, we end up having a competitiveness index that significantly improve the correlation between competitiveness and tourism inflows growth.

Keywords

Citation

Epoh, H.H., Ewondo Mbebi, O. and Nzepang, F. (2023), "Should the World Economic Forum’s global tourism competitiveness index be improved?", Tourism Critiques, Vol. 4 No. 1/2, pp. 48-74. https://doi.org/10.1108/TRC-05-2023-0009

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Hervé Honoré Epoh, Olivier Ewondo Mbebi and Fabrice Nzepang.

License

Published in Tourism Critiques: Practice and Theory. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode


1. Introduction

The competition between tourist destinations that has grown over the past two decades has led to a growing need for knowledge not only about the competitive capacity of a destination but also about the strengths and weaknesses of its competitors (Pulido-Fernández and Rodríguez-Díaz, 2016). This need for knowledge acquisition has led to the emergence of a large body of economic literature based primarily on the competitiveness of tourist destinations, with an emphasis on the analysis of its determining factors. For the proponents of this orientation, the interest of their work consisted in identifying, measuring and systematising the variables which determine the competitive position of host countries. Indeed, destination competitiveness allows public authorities, destination managers as well as different tourism entrepreneurs to measure the performance of a destination in relation to its competitors (Croes and Kubickova, 2013) but also to explain and predict a country’s tourism behaviour to facilitate management decision-making (Pulido-Fernández and Rodríguez-Díaz, 2016).

While several other tools for measuring the competitiveness of tourism destinations have also been proposed by researchers over the past decade (Croes, 2011; Croes and Kubickova, 2013; Gooroochurn and Sugiyarto, 2005; Leung and Baloglu, 2013; Pulido-Fernández and Rodríguez-Díaz, 2016), it was under the impetus of the World Economic Forum (WEF) that the first annual report on the competitiveness of tourism in 124 countries around the world was published in the late 2007s. Indeed, known as the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, it aims to provide a comprehensive policy tool to measure the factors and policies that make tourism development attractive; which would allow all stakeholders to work together to improve tourism competitiveness in their national economies.

To achieve this, the WEF proposes a synthetic destination competitiveness index called the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) and four competitiveness sub-indices. The first sub-index is related to the enabling environment. The second takes into account travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions. The third is infrastructure, and the fourth is natural and cultural resources. These indices were derived from the available information, organised into 14 pillars of tourism competitiveness, which, in turn, are divided into 90 variables or indicators of competitiveness.

Although the TTCI is the most widely used instrument in international comparisons for valuing the offers of tourist destinations, two main criticisms of this index concern the nature and arbitrary weighting of the variables within each pillar. Indeed, as regards the nature of the variables, the TTCI does not take into account the market size effect as a variable which can impact on the search for competitiveness. Similarly, the weighting of the variables does not follow the logic of the growth of flows that a competitiveness indicator should reflect. In fact, in the calculation of the TTCI, all the variables have the same weight, even though their contributions to tourism demand are different; this does not make it possible to highlight the growth in flows which, implicitly, reflects the level of competitiveness of destinations. The question that arises is how to obtain a weighting of the variables that can reflect the level of competitiveness of each tourist destination as well as their sometimes very distinct productive environments? To answer this question, we formulate the hypothesis that the weighting of the variables makes it possible to obtain a measure of the competitiveness of the destinations by translating the growth of the flows generated.

To do so, considering all the variables as significant and the data collection process as efficient, and based on the neo-technological theory (Posner, 1961; Vernon, 1966) which states that it is innovation that is the source of competitiveness, and therefore only the most competitive destinations can see their flows grow and be maintained, we propose a two-step approach to calculate the weight of each of the variables. Unlike the one proposed by Pulido-Fernández and Rodríguez-Díaz, (2016), which uses a multi-objective method with a double reference point and results in a new indicator, we proceed to an improvement of the TTCI by conducting a correlation analysis. We use the information provided in the reports published by the WEF, and compare the results of the new index with those presented by the WEF, to draw some conclusions. This methodology opens up the possibility of obtaining weights for the different pillars that are not the result of an arbitrary will.

The rest of this paper is organised as follows: Section 2 presents the theoretical framework of our work. Section 3 describes the methodology used. Finally, Section 4 presents the results and implications of the study.

2. Theoretical framework

Competitiveness is a broad and multidimensional concept which has led to multiple definitions and models of analysis since the 17th century (Cho and Moon, 2013). In the case of tourism destinations, competitiveness is understood as the role played by stakeholders in creating and integrating value-added products to sustain resources while maintaining their market position relative to their competitors (Hassan, 2000, p. 239). However, this definition seems to be linked exclusively to the relative position of destinations in tourism markets. For example, Dwyer and Kim (2003) defineed competitiveness as the relative ability of a destination to meet the needs of visitors in different aspects of the tourism experience or to offer products and services that outperform other destinations in those aspects of the tourism experience considered important by tourists. Other authors examine competitiveness by analysing temporary fluctuations in tourist flows (Li et al., 2010), demand satisfaction (Caber et al., 2012), economic globalisation (Namhyun, 2012), tourism prices (Craigwell and Worrell, 2008; Song and Witt, 2000), sustainability and efficiency (Cracolici et al., 2008; Pulido-Fernández et al., 2015), which they consider to be variables that positively influence tourism demand decisions.

These analyses show that the degree of competitiveness of a destination may not be a significant indicator of the efficiency of its economy or the level of well-being of its population. Indeed, a tourist destination may base its competitiveness not only on low wages and few benefits but also on the availability of natural resources that are unique in the world (Juan Ignacio and Rodriguez-Díaz, 2016). This competitiveness can also be based on the existence of high productivity, which allows higher wages and excellent benefits or on an improvement in the quality of services but also of the tourist experience. This conceptual debate has given rise to various attempts to identify and systematise the factors determining the competitiveness of tourist destinations. In fact, there are several approaches in the literature that explain the competitiveness of tourist destinations. But it was under the impetus of Crouch and Ritchie (1999) that the theory was developed at the end of the 1990s. Their model forms the basis of the debate on the competitiveness of tourist destinations by integrating all the relevant explanatory factors that can influence this competitiveness.

Numerous empirical studies have used this analytical framework to explain the competitiveness of destinations (Dwyer and Kim, 2003; Dwyer et al., 2003, 2014) but also to measure the competitiveness of tourist destinations in several countries (Bahar and Kozak, 2007; Lee and King, 2009; Crouch, 2011; Dwyer et al., 2012). The main criticism of these analyses is that they could lead to less accurate results on the one hand and, on the other, do not take into account other factors and attributes that can also affect the competitiveness of destinations (Crouch, 2011). For example, Enright and Newton (2005) determine the relative importance of the attributes of tourism destination competitiveness by surveying tourism industry professionals. Based on island destinations, Croes (2011) proposes a more precise competitiveness index for tourist destinations, demonstrating that current measures of competitiveness do not meet the needs of all destinations and that there are regions with heterogeneous characteristics. Based on the aforementioned work, Croes and Kubickova (2013) propose an alternative tourism competitiveness index (TCI), which they apply to the Central American region. The same is true of Dwyer et al. (2014), who apply the integrated destination competitiveness model to data available for a set of 139 countries over the period 2007–2011. Their research involved testing the 83 competitiveness attributes of this model and the results validated the appropriateness of the model’s structure, the validity of the groups of destination competitiveness attributes and the appropriateness of the different indicators used to measure destination attributes.

Of all the indicators and measures developed, the WEF's TTCI is widely used due to its methodological superiority and comprehensiveness in terms of the range of issues considered and geographical coverage (Hanafiah and Zulkifly, 2019; Martins et al., 2017). However, like most synthetic indices, the TTCI has been criticised, particularly on methodological grounds. These criticisms focus mainly on the following points:

  • the composition of the index, in particular, the combination of raw data and survey data;

  • the use of non-weak theoretical data;

  • the comparability of countries with different levels of development;

  • the arbitrary weighting of variables; and

  • the reliability and validity of the index and of the statistical methods used to demonstrate the usefulness of the index.

To address these issues, new approaches are being used to calculate the TTCI. The first approach is based on a different standardisation and aggregation of the pillars, which makes it possible, on the one hand, to adjust the weighting and, on the other, to assess the state of all the other countries in relation to each pillar (Luque et al., 2009, 2016; Salinas Fernándeza et al., 2020). The second approach constructs the indicator by calculating the weight of its component on the basis of two reference points, using a piecewise linear realisation function for each pillar; this makes it possible to normalise the value of each country by means of reference values (Pulido-Fernández and Rodríguez-Díaz, 2016). Incidentally, although these approaches solve the main problem related to the weighting of variables in the TTCI, they still do not meet the objective of competitiveness analysis, which is to explain the growth in tourist flows. This aspect of the problem is one of our concerns in the present study.

The TTCI is constructed as the result of four sub-indicators, themselves composed of 14 pillars grouping 75 (90) variables, 47 of which are quantitative and 28 qualitative. Its basic model, inspired by Porter’s (1985) general model, Figure 1 below shows the basic TTCI model.

All the pillars that make up the sub-indicators of the TTCI are calculated on the basis of primary data drawn from the “Executive Opinion Survey” [1] conducted by the WEF on the tourism sectors of 124 countries at the outset and 140 countries in 2021, and secondary data collected from various sources [2]. The data from the survey have a varying weighting between 1 and 7, while the indicators from the secondary data are standardised to a scale of 1–7. The standard formula for converting each quantitative variable obtained from the secondary data to the 1–7 scale is as follows:

Xij=6*XijXjminXjmaxXjmin+1

where i represents the country and j the index variables;

Xj max the maximum observed score of the variable j;

Xj min the minimum observed score of the destination competitiveness variables;

Xij the observed value of country i’s score for variable j;

Xij the estimated value of country i’s score for variable j; and

N the number of variables.

By taking into account the grouping of certain variables, it can be seen that all the criteria will ultimately have the weight of 1 in the calculation of the value of the variable. The Defense Trade Cooperation Treaties is then presented as a simple arithmetic average of the pillars and therefore of the variables that make them up. Hence, the following general formula:

TTCIi=1Nj=1nXij

where Xij represents the standardised values of the quantitative variables and the read value for the qualitative variables.

The construction of an indicator of tourism competitiveness must respect three basic principles, which we have identified as being: national and international comparability, productivity (growth at the best price) and dynamics (taking into account the time effect and sustainability). An improved critique of the TTCI and the taking into account of these basic principles will allow us to propose an indicator capable of improving the correlation between tourism competitiveness and the growth of flows.

3. Methodology framework

The reconfiguration of the index that we propose is in the wake of the neo-technological theory developed by Posner (1961) and Vernon (1966). It is based on the idea that the greater the demand, the greater the need for innovation and the more the product offered will incorporate the best of the available technology as well as reflecting the current and future needs of consumers. These two theories explain how, over the course of a product's life cycle, the places where the goods are produced shift geographically, stimulating international trade. Similarly, Porter (1990) drew on the theory of comparative advantage and the notion of economies of scale to propose the concept of competitiveness clusters, which bring together, in a single geographical area and in a specific branch of activity, a critical mass of resources and skills giving this area (cluster) a key position in global economic competition. The concept of economies of scale also plays a key role in the development of clusters.

This section first presents the data used in the article before presenting the updated methodology for calculating the TCI.

3.1 Data

The choice of the components of our panel is based on two basic principles all linked to the notion of market size. Indeed, production and innovation are intimately linked to the size of the market and to the prospects it offers. In this work, we take into account the effects of economies of scale in relation to Parkinson’s law and the threshold effects with the principle of critical size (Lehu, 2012). This allows us to eliminate not only island destinations of less than 1,000 km in diameter but also destinations that have not been able to welcome at least 100,000 tourists per year over the past three years. In addition, for greater significance, certain countries whose political instability may lead to a poor assessment of their tourism value were also excluded from our panel; this led us to a panel of 107 countries. The data used are essentially secondary data from the databases of the WEF, the World Tourism Organisation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the World Travel and Tourism Council, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the IMF and the World Bank. All the data sources are available in Appendix 1 of the document. The global sample, summarised in Figure 2, thus includes: 21 African countries south of the Sahara, 20 American countries, 16 Asia-Pacific countries, 10 Middle Eastern countries including the 4 North African countries and 40 European countries including 25 members of the European Union.

3.2 Process of calculating the adjusted index

The calculation of the TCI is done in three steps: the classification of destinations in the life cycle, the calculation of the correlation coefficients between the factors, and the levels of international tourist inflows, and finally the calculation of the TCI itself.

3.2.1 Destination classification.

The destinations are grouped into five phases according to their classification obtained from the theory of the life cycle of tourist destinations developed by Butler (1980). The author shows that a tourist area, i.e. a given space quantified by tourist numbers, undergoes a life cycle. He specifies that any tourist destination undergoes a phase of exploration or discovery, involvement and local training, development, consolidation and stagnation. In this study, the classification of tourist destinations is made over the whole period on the basis of the calculation of quintiles of growth rates of tourist arrivals. These quintiles thus make it possible to group the countries into five phases: exploration (EXP), involvement (INV), development (DEV), consolidation (CON) and stagnation (STA).

3.2.2 Calculation of correlation coefficients.

We calculate two types of correlation coefficients: the correlation coefficients of the factors by categories k Pk, and the correlation coefficients of variables j for country i αij. The variables are grouped into four categories called sub-indices: k = 1, 2, 3 and 4. Subsequently, the coefficients Pk and αij are calculated as correlation coefficients ρ of Spearman rank denoted:

(1) ρ=16*i=1n[R(DDETi)R(Xij)]2n3n

With n representing the number of destinations in the relevant “s” phase (n = 43 for the exploration phase (EXP), 16 for the involvement phase (INV), 27 for the development phase (DEV), 03 for the consolidation phase (CON) and 18 for the stagnation phase (STA); R(DDETi) the ranking of destination i for tourism demand and R(Xij) the rank of the destination for the variable or factor Xij.

Because the correlation coefficient has a value between −1 and 1, this would lead to a competitiveness index between −7 and 7. In order to allow the value of the index to remain within the range of 0 to 7, we use the (Y=(X+7)/2) transformation. We will then proceed with the following transformation to obtain the corrected correlation coefficient between 0 and 1:

(2) ρ=12(1+ρ)

With ρ′ = Pk for the correlation coefficients of the factors and ρ′ = αij for the correlation coefficients of the variables.

3.2.3 Calculation of the improved tourism competitiveness index.

The fundamental difference that this index introduces is in the extremes. The minimum and maximum become those of the class to which the country belongs. This is justified by the fact that, according to the neo-technological theory, innovations will be more integrated the more significant the demand and the market growth prospects are. The formula for calculating the scores of the different pillars (variables) of the index is thus formulated as follows: If we assume: i = the country (107); j = the pillars of the index (15); s = the phases of the life cycle (5) and t = the years (2005–2019).

For each year, we have:

(3) Xij=6*XijXjsminXjsmaxXjsmin+1

With, respectively, Xjsmin and Xjsmax the observed minimum and maximum of the score of variable j in phase s; Xij and Xij the observed and calculated value of the score of country i for variable j.

If we now consider Sikt as the scores of the countries i for the criterion Global (sub-index) k (with k = 1, 2, 3, 4) at date t, we will have the following formulation for the first aggregation of the variables:

(4) Sik=1mkj=1mkj*Xij

where mk represents the variables of sub-indicator k. mk is the number of variables included in the overall criterion k (mk = 5 for the basic factors, mk = 5 for the development factors and mk = 4 for the expansion factors). We then ranked the destinations according to the volume of demand. On this basis, we identified three strata: destinations with less than 5 million tourist arrivals, those with between 5 and 10 million and those with more than 10 million.

This reorganisation according to the volume of demand makes it possible to give weights to the various factors (Sik) of the competitiveness of destinations. These factors represent a number of homogeneous variables in terms of their impact on the development of the destination. If we consider that Pk represents the correlation coefficient of the factor k at the level of tourist flows, we arrive at the following formulation of the calculation of the TCI:

(5) ICTit=k=14PkSikt

The combination of equations (1)–(5) allows us to arrive at the following formulation of the TCI:

(6) ICTi=12k=14Pkj=1mk1mk[(26*i=1n[R(DDETi)R(Xij)]2n3n) *(6*XijXjsminXjsmaxXjsmin+1)]

This formulation of the TCI allows us, in the end, to obtain an index which integrates both cycle and size effects and then, as a consequence, the real contribution of the variables and factors to the growth of tourist flows.

4. Results

Our results are grouped into two subsets. Firstly, we present the calculations of the correlation coefficients of the factors and variables. Secondly, we calculate the values of the TCI.

4.1 Correlation coefficients

4.1.1 Correlation coefficients of variables.

Table 1 presents the correlation coefficients of the variables at different stages of the life cycle of tourist destinations.

It can be seen from this table that the contribution of the factors to the value of a tourist offer varies greatly according to the phase of the life cycle in which the destination is located.

4.1.2 The coefficients of the competitiveness factors.

To calculate the contribution of the competitiveness factors of destinations, we have considered access to the internet as an indicator of innovation. Indeed, the greater the number of internet users, the greater the possibilities of choice of destinations for consumers and the greater the constraints of differentiation for destinations. Thus, demand is all the stronger when the tourist destination presents the latest innovations in the sector. Subsequently, considering that the basic factors for tourism development are essentially linked to the availability of infrastructure, we have chosen hotel capacity as an indicator of the maturity of infrastructure in a destination. To this end, for all the destinations in our panel, we calculated the total accommodation available. Then for each of the groups thus identified, we estimated the average bed requirement necessary to cover a substantial increase in their market share. The bed requirement rate allows us to obtain an estimate of the infrastructure requirement needed to meet the current demand from international tourism.

Finally, to obtain the weighting of the development factors, we have taken the complement to one of the two previous components. This allows us to obtain all the weights of the different factors of the competitiveness of the destinations; this leads us to Table 2 below, which presents the contribution of the three factors thus identified to the competitiveness of international tourism destinations.

Table 2 shows that priorities vary according to the volume of arrivals. While for destinations with less than 5 million tourists, infrastructure is the priority; for destinations with between 5 and 10 million tourists, it is the development of natural resources that is the priority for making their offer more competitive; and for destinations with an established reputation, it is the implementation of an appropriate regulatory framework and an incentive environment that are their priorities.

4.2 Calculation of the tourism competitiveness index of destinations

In presenting the results here, we will limit ourselves to the top and bottom ten destinations in our ranking. For more details, see the complete ranking in Appendix 2. The TCI represents the TCI calculated over the years 2005 (05) to 2019 (19). Table 3 below gives a ranking of the ten best and worst destinations by information communication technology, while Table 4 below shows the WEF’s ranking compared with that of the authors. The full list of authors is available in Appendix 3 of the paper.

From the ranking that results from this reformulation of the index, it is clear that young destinations such as Israel, the Republic of Korea and Ireland hold the top spot, which they share with countries such as Switzerland, Denmark, Canada and some Central European countries. These results show not only the loss of competitiveness of established destinations such as Spain, France, Germany, the USA and Japan, whose offer, although still competitive, is tending to become more popular, but also, and above all, the growing importance of young destinations in the international tourism market. Furthermore, it can be seen that the least competitive destinations are more concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa. This could be justified by the fact that generally, these countries have an important infrastructure deficit in the tourism sector and a very low visibility on the international market.

As for the index values, the results obtained show that the value of the index is no longer very high. Indeed, out of the 107 countries in our panel, the number of destinations that have reached a score of at least 3.5 (i.e. 50% of the maximum expected score of 7) hardly exceeds 10. This can be explained by the nature of the tourist activity, which mixes both the qualitative and the quantitative, the emotional and the real. The other observation that can be made is that the differences between the values of the indicators of the different destinations are not high enough for a destination to really stand out and benefit from a significant comparative advantage. Under these conditions, the behaviour of agents, the availability of an attraction or a service can impact the competitiveness of a destination. Furthermore, for the period 2005–2019, the value of the index has been eroded significantly. The maximum value has fallen from 5.4756 in 2005 to 4.0194 in 2019. This could be the consequence of a reorientation of flows due to the crisis experienced by the main sources and destinations of international tourism.

To highlight the relevance of the results thus obtained, we proceeded to compare the average growth rates for the first 30 destinations to see if they confirm the expected growth effects. This gave us Table 5 below:

Overall, Table 5 shows that the TCI of destinations significantly explains the growth of international tourism flows. Indeed, the average growth rate of the top ten destinations is significantly better than that of the second ten destinations, which is also better than that of the bottom ten destinations (4.83, 2.78 and 1.61, respectively). The same analysis based on the results of the Approche Par Compétences yields Table 6 below:

The comparison of Tables 5 and 6 shows that the TIC explains the evolution of international tourism flows better than the TTCI; this confirms the option taken with regard to the methodology for calculating the TCI. The comparison can also be extended to the correlation with the volume of arrivals. Table 7 comparing the correlations is as follows:

This table allows us to confirm that the application of an appropriate weighting makes it possible to significantly improve the correlation of the index with the volume of arrivals. However, it can be noted that for destinations in a stagnation phase, this improvement is rather mixed. This result could be explained by the volatility of the flows and above all by the threshold effects which may arise for destinations in a stagnation phase. In any case, it confirms the overall vision of this indicator.

5. Conclusion

Competitiveness is a concept that has taken on a central position in today’s globalised economy. The search for competitiveness has become a survival issue for both economies and products. In this case, it is very important that the process of assessing competitiveness is as coherent and explicit as possible. Throughout this production, we have shown that a coherent process for measuring the competitiveness of destinations in tourism must take into account at least two concerns. The first is the expected volume of tourists and its spatial concentration, as this has an influence on output and factor productivity. The second concern that needs to be incorporated into the measurement of competitiveness is the evolution of demand that we have captured through the phases of Butler’s destination life cycle. Indeed, if the volume reflects the capacity of the infrastructure, its growth reflects the updating of the offer in relation to the state of demand on the market and vice versa. These concerns, which originate in the theories of international trade, particularly the neo-technological theory developed by Posner (1961) and Vernon (1966), make the level of demand and its evolution perfect indicators of product value. This has enabled us to propose a synthetic index, the “TCI”, which is able to give a value to the destinations’ offer by relying on the real criteria revealed by the evolution of demand.

The calculation of the index and the resulting ranking thus enabled us to show that the best perception of the offer is towards Asia. Israel and Korea have emerged as the leading destinations in our ranking. On the other hand, it can be noted that Northern Europe is taking the lead over Central Europe with the offer of countries new to international tourism, such as Denmark, Sweden and Finland. But Central Europe remains the region of the world where the best-rated offers are concentrated. This is mainly the case for Ireland and Switzerland. In America, the Canadian offer is by far the best, followed by Colombia and the USA. In Asia, other new destinations, such as Thailand and Malaysia, stood out. In the Middle East, however, Israel is almost the only competitive destination in the ranking, followed by Saudi Arabia and Jordan. In Africa, the ranking is dominated by the SADEC countries (South Africa, Zambia, Namibia and Botswana).

This ranking reflects an undeniable reality, that of the obsolescence or standardisation of the offer of traditional destinations in Central Europe and America. This leads to their stagnation or even their decline in the ranking to the benefit of new destinations such as Korea, Canada, China, Sweden and Thailand. Only the African destinations do not seem to succeed in positioning themselves in this new redistribution of international tourism flows. Taking into account this ranking, policy orientations have been set out to make the market approach of the main destinations more effective. If, on the whole, destinations in a growth phase must act on infrastructures by improving their quality and territorial coverage, destinations in a discovery phase, as is the case in sub-Saharan Africa, must focus their development actions on the coverage of the sector by TIC and, above all, highlight their resources.

Figures

Basic model structure

Figure 1.

Basic model structure

Distribution of the sample by area

Figure 2.

Distribution of the sample by area

Coefficient values of the variables

Phase A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 B1 B2 B3
Global 0.7325 0.6745 0.7190 0.6275 0.7585 0.6880 0.5175 0.3575
DEV 0.6640 0.5815 0.6540 0.6910 0.7280 0.7025 0.4745 0.4480
CON 0.8580 0.7000 0.8095 0.8265 0.8605 0.8280 0.4565 0.6895
EXP 0.7350 0.7195 0.7815 0.7845 0.8170 0.7055 0.5925 0.2630
INV 0.7930 0.7385 0.8245 0.8420 0.9130 0.7455 0.8805 0.0800
STA 0.5875 0.5995 0.7010 0.7230 0.6935 0.6525 0.4645 0.2630
B4 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2
Global 0.6915 0.7005 0.7120 0.7115 0.6380 0.6535
DEV 0.5885 0.7910 0.7080 0.7615 0.6630 0.7265
CON 0.7200 0.9290 0.7815 0.8365 0.7265 0.6745
EXP 0.7120 0.8235 0.8370 0.8380 0.6530 0.7930
INV 0.8655 0.8710 0.8710 0.8675 0.6465 0.5475
STA 0.6305 0.7200 0.6870 0.7320 0.5965 0.8320

Source: Authors’ own work

Coefficients of the factors (sub-indices) of competitiveness

Tourist arrivals Travel and tourism regulatory framework Infrastructure context Natural and cultural resources Incentive environment
0–5 million 0.09 0.60 0.04 0.16
5–10 million 0.27 0.32 0.62 0.26
More than 10 million 0.64 0.08 0.34 0.58
Total 100 100 100 100

Source: Authors’ own work

Ranking of the ten best and worst destinations by TIC

Rank Country TIC 05 Country ICT 07 Country ICT 09 Country ICT 11 Country ICT 13 Country ICT 15 Country ICT 17 Country ICT 19
Ranking of the ten most competitive destination offers
1 Israel 5.4756 Israel 5.3371 Israel 5.3371 Israel 4.6658 Israel 4.7092 Israel 4.3048 Korea (Rep) 4.2858 Korea, Rep) 4.0194
2 Korea (Rep) 4.2072 Korea (Rep) 4.1899 Korea (Rep) 4.1273 Korea (Rep) 4.3192 Korea (Rep) 4.0632 Korea (Rep) 4.1741 Israel 4.1821 Ireland 3.9490
3 Sweden 4.1212 Thailand 4.0255 Thailand 3.9975 Sweden 4.2408 Denmark 3.8980 Denmark 3.8756 Sweden 4.0636 Sweden 3.8750
4 Latvia 4.0844 Sweden 4.0229 Latvia 3.9655 Denmark 4.1774 Colombia 3.8219 Sweden 3.8575 Denmark 3.8361 Denmark 3.8649
5 Thailand 4.0324 Latvia 3.9693 Denmark 3.8821 Canada 4.0813 Switzerland 3.8154 Ireland 3.7988 Ireland 3.8341 Switzerland 3.8456
6 Denmark 3.9817 Denmark 3.9364 Canada 3.7620 Ireland 3.9827 Sweden 3.7909 Switzerland 3.7744 Switzerland 3.7195 Israel 3.7784
7 Canada 3.7281 Canada 3.7669 Sweden 3.7203 Spain 3.8810 Ireland 3.7399 Canada 3.6355 Colombia 3.6483 Latvia 3.6939
8 Switzerland 3.6589 Ireland 3.6671 Ireland 3.6559 UK 3.8771 Finland 3.6738 Finland 3.6282 Canada 3.6207 Portugal 3.6563
9 Ireland 3.6529 Switzerland 3.6431 Switzerland 3.6425 Finland 3.8719 Canada 3.6273 Colombia 3.5916 Portugal 3.5764 Canada 3.6363
10 Jordan 3.6358 UK 3.6198 UK 3.6111 France 3.8517 Spain 3.4847 Spain 3.5149 Latvia 3.5739 Spain 3.6345
Ranking of the ten least competitive destination offers
1 Malawi 0.430606 Malawi 0.401284 Mozambique 0.416815 Burundi 0.451207 Guyana 0.437745 Bosnia-H. 0.455413 Malawi 0.500162 Nigeria 0.480194
2 Zimbabwe 0.392344 Zimbabwe 0.358658 Malawi 0.403765 Arabia S 0.410973 Albania 0.434615 Algeria 0.453976 Algeria 0.493279 Malawi 0.465138
3 Burkina F 0.383329 Burkina F 0.347913 Zimbabwe 0.358597 Lesotho 0.407133 Malawi 0.43068 Mozambique 0.453692 Burundi 0.464195 Bangladesh 0.45578
4 Paraguay 0.374072 Paraguay 0.327912 Burkina F 0.347504 Zimbabwe 0.385204 Burkina F 0.428223 Malawi 0.449066 Bangladesh 0.459544 Burundi 0.453967
5 Kazakhstan 0.338943 Kazakhstan 0.305264 Paraguay 0.327912 Kazakhstan 0.3308 Mozambique 0.422707 Bangladesh 0.427774 Lesotho 0.459376 Lesotho 0.450702
6 Arabia S 0.140927 Arabia S 0.140816 Arabia S 0.07719 Montenegro 0.316654 Bangladesh 0.421469 Lesotho 0.426752 Madagascar 0.453979 Madagascar 0.435322
7 Oman 0.007216 Oman 0.007262 Oman 0.007308 Oman 0.316548 Lesotho 0.413322 Burkina F 0.399835 Zimbabwe 0.403288 Algeria 0.424317
8 Montenegro 0.006215 Montenegro 0.006221 Montenegro 0.006226 Paraguay 0.308587 Zimbabwe 0.385239 Zimbabwe 0.387016 Kazakhstan 0.391195 Burkina F 0.396805
9 Ghana 0.004755 Ghana 0.004804 Ghana 0.004854 Senegal 0.287634 Kazakhstan 0.359802 Kazakhstan 0.367371 Burkina F 0.377852 Paraguay 0.374895
10 Senegal 0.004017 Senegal 0.003986 Senegal 0.00397 Ghana 0.23092 Paraguay 0.310292 Paraguay 0.307228 Paraguay 0.374966 Tunisia 0.274377

Source: Authors’ own work

Comparative table of WEF and authors’ rankings

2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019
Rank Authors FEM Authors FEM Authors FEM Authors FEM Authors FEM Authors FEM Authors FEM Authors FEM
Ranking of the ten most competitive destination offers
1 Israel Switzerland Israel Switzerland Israel Switzerland Israel Switzerland Israel Switzerland Israel Spain Korea (Rep) Spain Korea (Rep) Spain
2 Korea (Rep) Austria Korea (Rep) Austria Korea (Rep) Austria Korea (Rep) Germany Korea (Rep) Germany Korea (Rep) France Israel France Ireland France
3 Sweden Germany Thailand Germany Thailand Germany Sweden Austria Denmark Austria Denmark Germany Sweden Germany Sweden Germany
4 Latvia Iceland Sweden Iceland Latvia France Denmark France Colombia Spain Sweden USA Denmark Japan Denmark Japan
5 Thailand USA Latvia USA Denmark Canada Canada Suede Switzerland UK Ireland UK Ireland UK Switzerland UK
6 Denmark Canada Denmark Canada Canada Spain Ireland USA Sweden USA Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland USA Israel USA
7 Canada Luxemburg Canada Luxemburg Sweden Sweden Spain UK Ireland France Canada Australia Colombia Australia Latvia Australia
8 Switzerland UK Ireland UK Ireland USA UK Canada Finland Canada Finland Italia Canada Italia Portugal Italia
9 Ireland Denmark Switzerland Denmark Switzerland Australia Finland Spain Canada Suede Colombia Japan Portugal Canada Canada Canada
10 Germany France UK France UK Slovaquie France Iceland Spain Australia Spain Canada Latvia Switzerland Spain Switzerland
Ranking of the ten least competitive destination offers
1 Malawi Burundi Malawi Guyana Mozambique Lesotho Burundi Burundi Guyana Burundi Bosnia-H. Burkina F Malawi Burundi Nigeria Burundi
2 Zimbabwe Lesotho Zimbabwe Burundi Malawi Burundi Arabia S Lesotho Albania Lesotho Algeria Burundi Algeria Mali Malawi Burkina F
3 Burkina F Bangladesh Burkina F Lesotho Zimbabwe Nigeria Lesotho Mali Malawi Algeria Mozambique Nigeria Burundi Nigeria Bangladesh Mali
4 Paraguay Cameroon Paraguay Bangladesh Burkina F Bangladesh Zimbabwe Burkina F Burkina F Benin Malawi Mozambique Bangladesh Lesotho Burundi Nigeria
5 Kazakhstan Ethiopia Kazakhstan Mozambique Paraguay Burkina F Kazakhstan Nigeria Mozambique Madagascar Bangladesh Lesotho Lesotho Benin Lesotho Cameroon
6 Arabia S Benin Arabia S Cameroon Arabia S Cameroon Montenegro Bangladesh Bangladesh Mali Lesotho Mali Madagascar Cameroon Madagascar Mozambique
7 Oman Nigeria Oman Ethiopia Oman Mozambique Oman Cameroon Lesotho Burkina F Burkina F Bangladesh Zimbabwe Bangladesh Algeria Malawi
8 Montenegro Malawi Montenegro Benin Montenegro Ethiopia Paraguay Madagascar Zimbabwe Nigeria Zimbabwe Malawi Kazakhstan Pakistan Burkina F Lesotho
9 Ghana Burkina F Ghana Nigeria Ghana Paraguay Senegal Mozambique Kazakhstan Mozambique Kazakhstan Pakistan Burkina F Malawi Paraguay Benin
10 Senegal Madagascar Senegal Malawi Senegal Zimbabwe Ghana Pakistan Paraguay Malawi Paraguay Algeria Paraguay Mozambique Tunisia Ethiopia
Note:

FEM = forum economique mondiale

Source: Authors’ own work

Average growth rates of the TIC ranking destinations

Range 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 Means
1–10 5.39 7.86 5.85 7.53 −2.9 3.88 4.56 6.95 4.83
11–20 4.61 7.78 5.7 −0.85 −5.69 3.11 4.49 3.11 2.78
21–30 3.79 2.31 1.22 3.23 −10.98 3.95 3.57 5.75 1.61

Source: Authors’ own work

Average growth rate of destinations in the TTCI ranking

Rang 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 Mean
1–10 4.08 5.94 3.18 0.56 −5.98 −1.91 20.72 5.18 3.97
10–20 4.08 6.07 0.14 −3.70 −1.83 6.92 12.93 10.15 4.35
20–30 13.99 9.32 3.40 6.99 −6.18 2.76 −0.64 6.33 4.50

Source: Authors’ own work

Comparison of the correlation coefficients of the two indices with international tourism flows

Step No. Correlations with TTCI Correlations with TIC
Global 107 0.279** 0.750**
DEV 43 0.553** 0.663**
CON 27 0.469** 0.838**
EXP 16 0.651** 0.707**
INV 3 0.590** 0.719**
STA 18 0.740** 0.524**
Note:

**p < 1%

Source: Authors’ own work

Summary of factor contributions to flow growth

Arrivals (millions) A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 B1 B2 B3 B4 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2
DEV 0–5 0.503 0.598 0.893 0.731 0.804 0.670 0.298 0.781 0.560 0.619 0.603 0.509 0.811 −0.111
5–10 0.417 0.743 0.41 0.756 0.734 0.806 0.191 0.551 0.623 0.650 0.668 0.199 0.661 −0.771
>10 0.310 0.334 0.404 0.842 0.327 0.761 0.467 0.837 0.781 0.188 0.852 0.344 0.633 0.030
EXP 0–5 0.640 0.610 0.882 0.470 0.671 0.768 0.038 0.703 0.543 0.670 0.421 0.536 0.828 0.197
5–10 0.259 0.127 0.259 A 0.111 0.039 −0.612 −0.037 0.631 0.541 −0.036 −0.334 A 0.259
>10 −0.703 0.050 −0.848 0.865 −0.865 0.848 0.025 0.661 0.895 0.915 0.898 −0.134 −0.367 0.610
CON 0–5 0.486 0.815 0.710 0.719 0.870 0.900 0.241 0.684 0.587 0.815 0.612 0.295 0.922 −0.128
5–10 −0.030 0.675 0.705 0.758 0.533 0.922 −0.141 0.742 0.941 0.439 0.845 0.171 0.924 −0.701
>10 0.798 0.656 0.858 0.840 0.522 0.811 0.344 0.804 0.686 0.198 0.792 0.617 0.785 −0.307
STA 0–5 0.597 0.612 0.684 0.762 0.785 0.654 0.244 0.774 0.838 0.377 0.892 0.698 0.871 −0.150
5–10 0.142 0.680 0.579 0.773 0.773 0.886 0.614 0.891 0.925 0.831 0.898 0.314 0.821 −0.556
>10 0.199 0.474 0.447 0.705 0.528 0.621 0.676 0.461 0.926 0.481 0.876 0.422 0.657 0.028
INV 0.716 0.818 0.964 0.883 0.95 0.901 0.866 0.868 0.418 0.911 0.9 0.548 0.936 −0.869
ASS 0.656 0.478 0.582 0.540 0.495 0.439 0.518 0.535 0.386 0.560 0.565 0.518 0.677 0.565

Source: Authors’ own work

Ranking of destinations by TIC

2005 2007 2009 2011
Country ICT RANK RATE Mean Country TIC RANK RATE Mean Country TIC RANK RATE Mean Country TIC RANK RATE Mean
Israel 1.825199 1 16.9 Israel 1.779039 1 −5.3 Israel 1.779039 1 4.4 Israel 1.555264 1 14.5
Korea (Rep) 1.402395 2 10.5 Korea (Rep) 1.396635 2 −4.2 Korea (Rep) 1.375761 2 3.9 Korea (Rep) 1.439749 2 66.8
Sweden 1.373722 3 8.2 Thailand 1.341842 3 22.6 Thailand 1.332502 3 12 Sweden 1.413601 3 −1
Latvia 1.361466 4 23.6 Sweden 1.34096 4 17.7 Latvia 1.321839 4 7.5 Denmark 1.392479 4 −4.2
Thailand 1.344127 5 −11.2 Latvia 1.3231 5 24.2 Denmark 1.294021 5 −2.8 Canada 1.360424 5 −4.6
Denmark 1.327238 6 −7.5 Denmark 1.312131 6 2.9 Canada 1.254007 6 −3.4 Ireland 1.327569 6 3.4
Canada 1.2427 7 −5.9 Canada 1.255642 7 −4.7 Sweden 1.240103 7 16.7 Spain 1.293672 7 −1.4
Switzerland 1.219626 8 4.5 Ireland 1.222368 8 8.3 Ireland 1.218634 8 10.2 UK 1.292351 8 1.1
Ireland 1.21763 9 8.3 Switzerland 1.214373 9 6 Switzerland 1.214163 9 7.1 Finland 1.290649 9 2.8
Jordan 1.211948 10 6.5 5.39 UK 1.20659 10 6.1 7.36 UK 1.203711 10 2.9 5.85 France 1.283908 10 −2.1 7.53
Serbia 1.191345 11 13.6 Finland 1.183197 11 13 Finland 1.195757 11 8.9 Portugal 1.277888 11 0
UK 1.191202 12 4.1 Jordan 1.173663 12 7.3 Malaysia 1.172946 12 10.8 Thailand 1.277615 12 7.3
Finland 1.187799 13 2.4 Malaysia 1.169769 13 9.7 Jordan 1.172129 13 9.5 R. Czech 1.26685 13 −5.5
Malaysia 1.172259 14 7.6 Spain 1.15372 14 3.1 France 1.155095 14 4.5 Switzerland 1.257063 14 4.8
Cyprus 1.164649 15 −0.3 Serbia 1.153031 15 10.2 Serbia 1.152045 15 17.1 Greece 1.24514 15 −3.8
Spain 1.144611 16 1.9 Portugal 1.150538 16 11.9 Spain 1.150686 16 0.2 Latvia 1.239578 16 6.6
Portugal 1.14086 17 −0.7 France 1.150329 17 2.1 Portugal 1.150411 17 4.7 Germany 1.226435 17 1.5
Austria 1.14005 18 4.9 Austria 1.136506 18 −0.6 Germany 1.141114 18 −1.7 Malaysia 1.215289 18 −9.4
Germany 1.138417 19 13.5 Germany 1.135317 19 12.5 Austria 1.136325 19 0.2 Colombia 1.18509 19 −2.7
Iceland 1.135194 20 −0.9 4.61 R. Czech 1.133699 20 8.6 7.78 Cyprus 1.133744 20 2.8 5.7 Cyprus 1.171432 20 −7.3 −0.85
France 1.129404 21 −2.3 Cyprus 1.131548 21 −2.7 R. Czech 1.127065 21 0.4 USA 1.165371 21 12.4
R. Czech 1.127743 22 9.5 USA 1.112105 22 1.5 USA 1.119191 22 8.9 Austria 1.147849 22 5.6
USA 1.115161 23 6.7 Iceland 1.108326 23 12.9 Iceland 1.113296 23 4.8 Bulgaria 1.117134 23 −0.1
Greece 1.096494 24 6.8 Greece 1.102767 24 4.1 Greece 1.101663 24 4 Belgium 1.105392 24 −3.3
Norway 1.083702 25 0 Belgium 1.062526 25 3.3 Luxemburg 1.071728 25 0 Croatia 1.101947 25 5.5
N. Zealand 1.070152 26 −2.4 Norway 1.052347 26 −3.3 Belgium 1.0712 26 −3.9 Jordan 1.082141 26 8
Luxemburg 1.061261 27 0 Luxemburg 1.050686 27 0 N. Zealand 1.059639 27 −2.3 Poland 1.07754 27 −7.1
Belgium 1.058895 28 5 N. Zealand 1.048082 28 2.3 Norway 1.053139 28 6.4 Norway 1.076075 28 −0.5
Slovakia 1.03716 29 15 Australia 1.035496 29 −0.8 Australia 1.037793 29 −11.5 Iceland 1.072597 29 7.5
Australia 1.036562 30 −0.4 3.79 Tunisia 1.029916 30 5.8 2.31 Tunisia 1.029881 30 5.4 1.22 Tunisia 1.065935 30 4.3 3.23
Tunisia 1.034992 31 15.8 Croatia 1.018006 31 2.5 Croatia 1.018107 31 2.1 South A. 1.061501 31 −2.9
Croatia 1.022629 32 4.7 Slovakia 1.002045 32 25 Slovakia 1.001794 32 29.2 Luxemburg 1.052831 32 0
Japan 0.990754 33 11.4 Japan 0.987534 33 −22.1 Japan 0.989146 33 8.5 Australia 1.043462 33 −10.2
The Netherlands 0.954423 34 −2.7 The Netherlands 0.951972 34 2.5 The Netherlands 0.952787 34 2.2 Egypt 1.035381 34 0.9
Morocco 0.945383 35 17.9 Bulgaria 0.948655 35 0.3 Morocco 0.948647 35 7.9 Morocco 1.012114 35 −4.3
Bulgaria 0.938842 36 2.1 Morocco 0.941298 36 24.4 Bulgaria 0.936777 36 5.2 Ukraine 1.004303 36 2.9
Colombia 0.913396 37 −3.8 South A. 0.915375 37 6.7 Egypt 0.926047 37 11.1 Slovakia 1.000851 37 14.8
Ecuador 0.909543 38 −1.7 Egypt 0.897601 38 4.4 South A. 0.905303 38 7.1 The Netherlands 0.996619 38 −5.8
Egypt 0.902525 39 0.4 Poland 0.888533 39 7.5 Poland 0.883575 39 23.7 Japan 0.987348 39 −0.2
South A. 0.902208 40 6.8 Ecuador 0.871256 40 −6.4 Ecuador 0.87088 40 18.9 N. Zealand 0.984951 40 −3.5
Philippines 0.896274 41 7.3 Colombia 0.867086 41 22.7 Colombia 0.867025 41 −5.6 Turkey 0.968735 41 7.5
Nicaragua 0.891248 42 2.7 Philippines 0.858471 42 29.7 Turkey 0.860157 42 −4.4 China 0.954569 42 −9.3
Chile 0.889118 43 −7 Chile 0.857751 43 −4.6 Chile 0.858475 43 9.7 Ecuador 0.901924 43 7.1
Poland 0.881461 44 −5.1 Turkey 0.855656 44 −7.4 Philippines 0.858467 44 20.1 Serbia 0.896391 44 −4.9
Turkey 0.857864 45 2.1 Nicaragua 0.849167 45 9 Nicaragua 0.844526 45 5.9 Costa Rica 0.881524 45 3.2
Costa Rica 0.85701 46 13 Costa Rica 0.825737 46 −0.5 Costa Rica 0.826261 46 10.2 Russia 0.87269 46 4.2
Zambia 0.845924 47 −5.9 China 0.808486 47 9.6 Indonesia 0.820686 47 6.7 Qatar 0.871018 47 −23.6
Qatar 0.836472 48 35.3 Zambia 0.807678 48 −22 China 0.817226 48 −1.5 Philippines 0.866123 48 −50.9
Lithuania 0.835831 49 9.5 Qatar 0.805113 49 15.2 Zambia 0.80689 49 19.2 Romania 0.853058 49 9.6
Indonesia 0.823749 50 −7.4 Lithuania 0.80444 50 2.4 Qatar 0.805559 50 −24 Chile 0.849264 50 11.6
China 0.810657 51 9.6 Ukraine 0.781591 51 −2.8 Lithuania 0.805141 51 −7 Uruguay 0.840116 51 6.4
Argentina 0.795152 52 10.4 Argentina 0.763779 52 12.6 Ukraine 0.776886 52 7.8 Venezuela 0.839774 52 −13
Ukraine 0.779863 53 −3.6 Italia 0.757024 53 5.7 Argentina 0.764264 53 13.7 Argentina 0.831172 53 −9
Venezuela 0.775067 54 10.6 Mexico 0.743961 54 −2.3 Italia 0.756966 54 −0.2 Lithuania 0.817821 54 −6.7
Hungary 0.765094 55 13.4 Venezuela 0.737101 55 1.3 Mexico 0.744134 55 0.2 Zambia 0.809462 55 −9.7
Italia 0.760444 56 −1.4 Hungary 0.731507 56 5.2 Venezuela 0.734644 56 −0.3 Italia 0.794268 56 −3.9
Mexico 0.74715 57 1.7 Brazil 0.72647 57 −7.5 Hungary 0.731546 57 −6.7 Nicaragua 0.782983 57 7.9
Romania 0.744151 58 72.7 Russia 0.721604 58 4.2 Russia 0.727579 58 8 Mexico 0.768474 58 0.2
Uruguay 0.74346 59 0.2 Uruguay 0.708212 59 −6.1 Brazil 0.726835 59 −2.4 Honduras 0.767885 59 5.4
Slovénie 0.736002 60 7.6 Roumania 0.707271 60 10.1 Uruguay 0.707776 60 16.2 Kenya 0.766721 60 −16.2
Brazil 0.731147 61 −4.5 Slovénie 0.702335 61 −3.6 Romania 0.706717 61 −4.7 Brazil 0.763413 61 0.5
Russia 0.725049 62 −11.5 Jamaica 0.690033 62 13.8 Slovénie 0.702294 62 13.5 Indonesia 0.758377 62 25.7
Jamaica 0.719669 63 −6 Namibia 0.681636 63 10.9 Jamaica 0.691927 63 −3.3 Pakistan 0.750625 63 9.6
Namibia 0.712947 64 8.1 Botswana 0.662084 64 19.3 India 0.690444 64 8.7 Slovénie 0.745059 64 7.7
Botswana 0.693463 65 0.6 Panama 0.65799 65 25.9 Namibia 0.681832 65 7.9 Jamaica 0.739388 65 −4.7
Panama 0.691604 66 20.5 Kuwait 0.651081 66 5.9 Botswana 0.662408 66 6.6 Peru 0.739253 66 10.3
Nepal 0.684413 67 −43.7 Guatemala 0.649157 67 9.7 Panama 0.658002 67 23 Namibia 0.738585 67 −7.5
Kuwait 0.682086 68 −14.3 Nepal 0.646147 68 −7.2 Kuwait 0.652337 68 −1.1 Hungary 0.737021 68 12.9
Guatemala 0.678442 69 14.2 India 0.61987 69 13 Guatemala 0.651887 69 5.7 Guatemala 0.733737 69 −10.4
Mali 0.656024 70 0.9 Mali 0.617822 70 10.6 Nepal 0.646281 70 26.6 Botswana 0.71919 70 −12.2
India 0.653497 71 13.4 Peru 0.615195 71 14.7 Mali 0.617008 71 16.1 Panama 0.703093 71 15.8
Peru 0.6483 72 9.1 Mongolia 0.608981 72 2.2 Peru 0.614222 72 5.6 Kuwait 0.694151 72 −6.4
Mongolia 0.647151 73 −17 Benin 0.58267 73 8.5 Mongolia 0.608385 73 20.6 India 0.686667 73 7
Benin 0.620924 74 −14.9 Pakistan 0.565374 74 1.5 Kazakhstan 0.60657 74 6.7 Madagascar 0.653759 74 2.4
Pakistan 0.601481 75 4.5 Kenya 0.556251 75 7.8 Benin 0.582015 75 52 Nepal 0.648048 75 50
Kenya 0.591367 76 10.4 Honduras 0.546558 76 5.6 Pakistan 0.5646 76 −6.5 Vietnam 0.627728 76 −6.4
Honduras 0.582591 77 6.9 Algeria 0.545797 77 −28.1 Kenya 0.555372 77 13.2 Azerbaijan 0.623195 77 −14.7
Algeria 0.57712 78 −6.8 Georgia 0.527241 78 14.2 Algeria 0.54671 78 −25.3 Bolivia 0.621349 78 −22.6
Georgia 0.558638 79 20.5 Indonesia 0.519506 79 −20.6 Honduras 0.545757 79 −0.6 Uganda 0.6108 79 17.6
Azerbaijan 0.544769 80 3.8 Azerbaijan 0.513387 80 78.2 Georgia 0.527318 80 4.5 Mongolia 0.608955 80 −37.1
Armenia 0.543878 81 7.5 Armenia 0.512463 81 10.8 Azerbaijan 0.513967 81 28.8 Benin 0.605371 81 −0.4
Cambodge 0.525963 82 32.4 Viet Nam 0.492764 82 60 Armenia 0.512913 82 −12.3 Georgia 0.60416 82 −6.3
Vietnam 0.524114 83 2.9 Cambodge 0.491066 83 11.4 Vietnam 0.493269 83 −0.1 Mali 0.603057 83 7.7
Uganda 0.519343 84 38.8 Uganda 0.487957 84 −15.9 Cambodge 0.488569 84 10.3 Gambia 0.594124 84 −21.2
Ethiopia 0.510343 85 6.3 Ethiopia 0.478949 85 7.7 Uganda 0.488153 85 4.3 Algeria 0.590527 85 16.6
Cameroon 0.505382 86 5.1 Madagascar 0.468683 86 27.7 Ethiopia 0.479675 86 8.8 Cambodge 0.589953 86 −3
Madagascar 0.504297 87 9.9 Bolivia 0.467812 87 −16.2 Bolivia 0.468693 87 −9.8 Burkina F 0.58332 87 16.1
Bolivia 0.499166 88 16.8 Cameroon 0.467168 88 −3.4 Madagascar 0.467906 88 4.6 Ethiopia 0.582276 88 23
Gambia 0.494356 89 9.3 Gambia 0.463037 89 15.2 Cameroon 0.466599 89 −0.5 Armenia 0.570457 89 −7.4
Lesotho 0.484074 90 −2.5 Lesotho 0.445739 90 7.3 Gambia 0.463397 90 6.5 Bosnia-H. 0.555121 90 −0.6
Bosnie-H 0.469191 91 4.8 Bosnie-H 0.437782 91 10.5 Lesotho 0.445159 91 −0.4 Guyana 0.55099 91 8.2
Guyana 0.461635 92 19.5 Guyana 0.430221 92 2.6 Bosnie-H 0.438581 92 5.8 Nigeria 0.548711 92 140.7
Burundi 0.459251 93 −5.4 Albania 0.423618 93 14.8 Guyana 0.430802 93 24.2 Cameroon 0.542098 93 −41.1
Albania 0.454916 94 10.3 Burundi 0.420851 94 −15.6 Albania 0.423827 94 24.4 Mozambique 0.535628 94 0.8
Bangladesh 0.449965 95 7 Bangladesh 0.418624 95 0.9 Burundi 0.420427 95 −2.8 Albania 0.534849 95 11
Nigeria 0.449642 96 137.9 Nigeria 0.418321 96 22.5 Bangladesh 0.419567 96 −8.9 Malawi 0.529272 96 −3
Mozambique 0.448254 97 34.7 Mozambique 0.416629 97 5.6 Nigeria 0.419198 97 49.8 Bangladesh 0.518288 97 −12.4
Malawi 0.430606 98 14.5 Malawi 0.401284 98 −5.7 Mozambique 0.416815 98 20 Burundi 0.451207 98 −11.7
Zimbabwe 0.392344 99 −32.8 Zimbabwe 0.358658 99 13.9 Malawi 0.403765 99 −12.8 Arabia S 0.410973 99 −10
Burkina F 0.383329 100 −13.8 Burkina F 0.347913 100 20.9 Zimbabwe 0.358597 100 −9.6 Lesotho 0.407133 100 −0.1
Paraguay 0.374072 101 5.9 Paraguay 0.327912 101 −1.8 Burkina F 0.347504 101 −0.3 Zimbabwe 0.385204 101 11.4
Kazakhstan 0.338943 102 −16.7 Kazakhstan 0.305264 102 −5.2 Paraguay 0.327912 102 −12.5 Kazakhstan 0.3308 102 −18.5
Arabia S 0.140927 103 −28 Arabia S 0.140816 103 −7.2 Arabia S 0.07719 103 22.9 Montenegro 0.316654 103 1.3
Oman 0.007216 104 −13.3 Oman 0.007262 104 5.8 Oman 0.007308 104 13.3 Oman 0.316548 104 −4.7
Montenegro 0.006215 105 24.5 Montenegro 0.006221 105 11.1 Montenegro 0.006226 105 41.8 Paraguay 0.308587 105 −18.5
Ghana 0.004755 106 53.6 Ghana 0.004804 106 −5.9 Ghana 0.004854 106 −4.7 Senegal 0.287634 106 −10.5
Senegal 0.004017 107 13.9 Senegal 0.003986 107 −6.2 Senegal 0.00397 107 64.8 Ghana 0.23092 107 −7.8

Ranking of destinations by TIC (follow)

2013 2015 2017 2019
Country ICT RANK RATE T moy Country ICT RANK RATE T moy Country ICT RANK RATE T moy Country ICT RANK RATE T moy Moy Moy
Israel 1.569719 1 −10   Israel 1.43494 1 20.4   Korea (Rep) 1.428611 1 12.7   Korea (Rep) 1.339791 1 21.4    
Korea (Rep) 1.354396 2 10.9   Korea (Rep) 1.391366 2 5.4   Israel 1.394046 2 −5.1   Ireland 1.316342 2 5.9    
Denmark 1.299319 3 −6.9   Denmark 1.291873 3 1.9   Sweden 1.354523 3 9.3   Sweden 1.291674 3 12.2    
Colombia 1.273958 4 13.3   Sweden 1.285835 4 2.5   Denmark 1.278712 4 2.7   Denmark 1.288308 4 0.8    
Switzerland 1.271784 5 −4.4   Ireland 1.266255 5 3.5   Ireland 1.278022 5 13.4   Switzerland 1.281855 5 −0.2    
Sweden 1.263622 6 8.5   Switzerland 1.258149 6 2.1   Switzerland 1.239838 6 0.2   Israel 1.259465 6 13.7    
Ireland 1.246644 7 −6.7   Canada 1.211818 7 2.1   Colombia 1.216103 7 0.3   Latvia 1.231306 7 2.3    
Finland 1.2246 8 −12.2   Finland 1.209402 8 9.1   Canada 1.206902 8 2   Portugal 1.218765 8 6.8    
Canada 1.209105 9 −10.6   Colombia 1.197195 9 −11   Portugal 1.192121 9 8.6   Canada 1.212112 9 4.6    
Spain 1.161559 10 −10.9 −2.9 Spain 1.171622 10 2.8 3.88 Latvia 1.191297 10 1.5 4.56 Spain 1.211492 10 2 6.95 4.8275
R. Czech 1.153667 11 −2.3   Latvia 1.17034 11 1.7   France 1.180377 11 12.1   UK 1.201448 11 1.7    
Latvia 1.15157 12 −5   France 1.164908 12 −1.7   UK 1.172684 12 7.3   Austria 1.190823 12 1.2    
France 1.146774 13 −9.8   Portugal 1.143988 13 9.4   Spain 1.164917 13 7.9   Belgium 1.175722 13 2.3    
Austria 1.137673 14 −9.9   UK 1.139436 14 0.8   Thailand 1.164451 14 18   France 1.174447 14 2.6    
Portugal 1.136075 15 −8.3   R. Czech 1.132963 15 2.2   Germany 1.13728 15 2.2   Thailand 1.158428 15 8.6    
Belgium 1.134183 16 −8.5   Germany 1.132115 16 6.8   Austria 1.121415 16 −0.7   Australia 1.154861 16 0.6    
Malaysia 1.13161 17 4.5   Austria 1.125165 17 1.4   R. Czech 1.103726 17 0.3   Germany 1.150222 17 3.8    
The Netherlands 1.131323 18 −8.8   Thailand 1.111326 18 7   Malaysia 1.068851 18 −11.6   The Netherlands 1.143694 18 6.1    
Germany 1.130867 19 −7.2   Malaysia 1.10269 19 −0.2   Belgium 1.062779 19 2.4   R. Czech 1.130434 19 6.5    
UK 1.10969 20 −1.6 −5.69 Belgium 1.096095 20 3.7 3.11 Cyprus 1.045078 20 7 4.49 Colombia 1.121765 20 −2.3 3.11 2.7825
Greece 1.090169 21 −23   Tunisia 1.057795 21 0.4   Australia 1.044884 21 −6.6   Japan 1.111842 21 31.6    
Tunisia 1.089578 22 −3.1   Greece 1.049415 22 9.4   USA 1.033776 22 10.9   Malaysia 1.09373 22 6.9    
Thailand 1.074257 23 −10.2   Cyprus 1.043879 23 −1   Luxemburg 1.031927 23 0   USA 1.067952 23 7.5    
Cyprus 1.032159 24 −19.2   USA 1.018502 24 9.7   Iceland 1.025449 24 16.6   Cyprus 1.056999 24 4.5    
Australia 1.030284 25 3.7   The Netherlands 1.008695 25 8.3   Finland 1.011966 25 13.7   Hungary 1.037653 25 −2.7    
Croatia 1.017243 26 −17.1   Croatia 0.993245 26 11.2   Norway 1.008265 26 −2.5   N. Zealand 1.03534 26 −1.6    
USA 1.012769 27 −15.6   Luxemburg 0.983725 27 0   Slovakia 1.001097 27 0.8   Finland 1.030499 27 −0.7    
Jordan 0.986321 28 −4.1   Bulgaria 0.979931 28 −3.3   The Netherlands 0.994312 28 6.1   Slovakia 1.018907 28 1.1    
Norway 0.977796 29 −10.5   Australia 0.978862 29 3.6   Greece 0.991261 29 −5.1   Iceland 1.01862 29 10.9    
Egypt 0.974736 30 −10.7 −10.98 Norway 0.978499 30 1.2 3.95 Bulgaria 0.982869 30 1.8 3.57 Luxemburg 1.011759 30 0 5.75 1.605
Bulgaria 0.974166 31 −11.8   Iceland 0.97462 31 −5.9   Arabia S 0.974059 31 −0.3   Ecuador 1.006047 31 5.5    
Japan 0.973561 32 −17.3   Jordan 0.965958 32 17   Croatia 0.968516 32 0   Bulgaria 1.000446 32 0.3    
Iceland 0.945022 33 11.3   Japan 0.943401 33 17.2   Romania 0.967096 33 −5.3   Arabia S 0.998804 33 −2.2    
Luxemburg 0.943908 34 0   Egypt 0.937443 34 6.8   Ecuador 0.954715 34 −1.2   Greece 0.996686 34 6.9    
N. Zealand 0.904369 35 −2.5   N. Zealand 0.912759 35 −13   Jordan 0.954191 35 −15.7   Norway 0.99658 35 2.2    
South A. 0.888649 36 −10.5   Ecuador 0.91003 36 8.3   Poland 0.946945 36 10.8   Jordan 0.988805 36 12    
Morocco 0.884338 37 −8   Arabia S 0.903411 37 0   N. Zealand 0.926218 37 0   Poland 0.98717 37 10.1    
Ecuador 0.881122 38 −5.3   Poland 0.902047 38 −4   Japan 0.925342 38 −24.6   Mexico 0.970014 38 6.9    
China 0.872345 39 −4.4   Argentina 0.895522 39 14.2   Argentina 0.914652 39 −3.1   Croatia 0.954635 39 7.8    
Poland 0.864515 40 −4.5   South A. 0.887922 40 −3.7   China 0.911899 40 −5.8   Italia 0.952465 40 −0.1    
Brazil 0.862876 41 −6.1   China 0.887335 41 9.2   Hungary 0.891415 41 2.3   Romania 0.940696 41 19.2    
Kuwait 0.841028 42 34.5   Morocco 0.881566 42 6.2   South A. 0.884069 42 −2.8   Slovénie 0.921754 42 −0.6    
Arabia S 0.840368 43 17.1   Turkey 0.842033 43 −7.4   Morocco 0.880343 43 5.7   Brazil 0.918731 43 17.1    
Turkey 0.837331 44 11.1   Kuwait 0.834014 44 −28.9   Costa Rica 0.8695 44 −0.2   Argentina 0.915459 44 −3.8    
Italia 0.833072 45 −11.1   Slovakia 0.831783 45 −5.3   Turkey 0.850693 45 17.7   Morocco 0.911899 45 −2.8    
Zambia 0.829409 46 −8   Costa Rica 0.819769 46 −7.7   Nicaragua 0.848557 46 18.7   China 0.908194 46 −3.8    
Philippines 0.817423 47 −1.8   Qatar 0.809117 47 32.6   Qatar 0.848211 47 102.3   South A. 0.898105 47 13.6    
R.slovaque 0.807346 48 −11.1   Philippines 0.805873 48 2.7   Egypt 0.842291 48 −27.5   Egypt 0.892796 48 1.8    
Costa Rica 0.804584 49 −21.4   Slovénie 0.803706 49 6.3   Slovénie 0.825557 49 0.4   Philippines 0.880556 49 10.6    
Qatar 0.790073 50 −24   Zambia 0.798986 50 13.1   Montenegro 0.824432 50 11.3   Panama 0.879262 50 6.7    
Slovénie 0.787934 51 −5.4   Nicaragua 0.791639 51 −9.2   Vietnam 0.81789 51 26.6   Turkey 0.870214 51 −0.3    
Mexico 0.787931 52 −0.6   Viet Nam 0.784626 52 4   Philippines 0.809482 52 8.4   Indonesia 0.863281 52 9.2    
Ukraine 0.78172 53 −15.8   Italia 0.782248 53 −0.1   Serbia 0.800041 53 2.1   Nicaragua 0.849981 53 5.1    
Russia 0.749715 54 −3.4   Russia 0.766 54 −8.8   Russia 0.797009 54 7.3   Costa Rica 0.846201 54 6.5    
Nicaragua 0.749648 55 12.2   Serbia 0.763952 55 3.6   Zambia 0.788389 55 16   Qatar 0.845315 55 36.6    
Hungary 0.738815 56 7.5   Brazil 0.759202 56 −10.7   Peru 0.78685 56 10.5   Vietnam 0.82812 56 11.5    
Serbia 0.738223 57 1.7   Mexico 0.758193 57 −9.3   Oman 0.783065 57 8.6   Serbia 0.809159 57 0.6    
Argentina 0.717331 58 −9.4   Ukraine 0.753865 58 −4   Mexico 0.774581 58 −10   Montenegro 0.803856 58 12.8    
Panama 0.715407 59 2.4   Hungary 0.748238 59 −6   Italia 0.774396 59 6.3   Russia 0.797277 59 13.8    
Chile 0.711784 60 −4.4   Chile 0.729887 60 −12.5   Chile 0.772387 60 3.2   Lithuania 0.78495 60 1.9    
Indonesia 0.704491 61 −26.4   Lithuania 0.722446 61 1.8   Lithuania 0.753974 61 16.5   Ukraine 0.779153 61 7.4    
Lithuania 0.703894 62 −9.3   Panama 0.718971 62 8.5   Brazil 0.749223 62 1.4   Oman 0.777581 62 5.9    
Roumania 0.688743 63 −25.8   Oman 0.717997 63 −3   Namibia 0.733253 63 7.6   Zambia 0.776967 63 −10.4    
Venezuela 0.68504 64 −11.7   Montenegro 0.717633 64 3   Ukraine 0.73204 64 0   Chile 0.76749 64 14.4    
Oman 0.674624 65 32.2   Roumania 0.706852 65 1.6   Panama 0.728424 65 8.4   India 0.756966 65 10.3    
Nepal 0.668559 66 19.3   Peru 0.698617 66 0.7   Uruguay 0.704974 66 28.3   Peru 0.752785 66 5.2    
India 0.667165 67 −1.5   Indonesia 0.690671 67 1.3   Tunisia 0.700814 67 −36.3   Kenya 0.716309 67 −6.2    
Kenya 0.66478 68 −17.6   Venezuela 0.67827 68 3.5   Benin 0.695136 68 18.9   Namibia 0.706094 68 10    
Honduras 0.654752 69 −4.7   Uruguay 0.673577 69 −4.1   Jamaica 0.695018 69 −4.6   Jamaica 0.705258 69 4    
Montenegro 0.648511 70 1.4   Namibia 0.673364 70 9.3   Guatemala 0.691221 70 −10.3   Cameroon 0.702141 70 8.8    
Peru 0.647654 71 3.3   Kenya 0.673347 71 37   Indonesia 0.689561 71 5.3   Uruguay 0.694383 71 −1.3    
Uruguay 0.64346 72 23.7   Honduras 0.668239 72 0.1   Nepal 0.684729 72 0.3   Nepal 0.685074 72 9.6    
Jamaica 0.640628 73 1.5   Nepal 0.665943 73 −29.4   Honduras 0.682115 73 −1   Mongolia 0.678134 73 −0.9    
Namibia 0.636514 74 −9.9   Jamaica 0.661309 74 −8.9   Kenya 0.67892 74 17.2   Honduras 0.675195 74 11.7    
Guatemala 0.635147 75 15   Benin 0.655852 75 16.9   Venezuela 0.671631 75 −16.1   Venezuela 0.652051 75 23.4    
Benin 0.634715 76 −42.3   Guatemala 0.646045 76 9.8   Botswana 0.668397 76 −1.1   Benin 0.634133 76 10.5    
Mongolia 0.622536 77 12.2   Botswana 0.627902 77 −8.9   Cameroon 0.66391 77 1.8   Botswana 0.631672 77 4.6    
Botswana 0.618105 78 0   Cameroon 0.623656 78 −35   Mongolia 0.641116 78 −23.6   Guatemala 0.614568 78 −2.9    
Senegal 0.609748 79 −20.5   Mongolia 0.620355 79 −10   Senegal 0.604773 79 17.2   Senegal 0.59952 79 5.3    
Cameroon 0.604005 80 63.4   India 0.6131 80 10.3   Kuwait 0.601861 80 −13.9   Mali 0.593952 80 5.1    
Mali 0.590828 81 −37.4   Senegal 0.60634 81 1.3   Azerbaijan 0.592192 81 61.7   Georgia 0.581802 81 3.8    
Vietnam 0.561886 82 −14.3   Mali 0.557676 82 10.8   Bolivia 0.591889 82 26.8   Azerbaijan 0.578542 82 56.3    
Pakistan 0.538569 83 −8.3   Azerbaijan 0.551197 83 26   Albania 0.581009 83 −3.9   Bolivia 0.575685 83 7.4    
Uganda 0.538427 84 38.1   Gambia 0.541946 84 −41.3   Gambia 0.580903 84 173.2   Kuwait 0.574733 84 6.7    
Azerbaijan 0.533564 85 66.2   Bolivia 0.540743 85 1.6   Georgia 0.573808 85 24   Albania 0.571066 85 4.1    
Burundi 0.530214 86 −6.6   Pakistan 0.527331 86 −2.8   Ethiopia 0.569373 86 28.3   Gambia 0.56588 86 6.3    
Bolivia 0.529747 87 0.7   Uganda 0.522129 87 19.9   India 0.56557 87 16   Kazakhstan 0.536059 87 15.3    
Gambia 0.525676 88 −11.1   Georgia 0.521154 88 34.9   Ghana 0.560814 88 0   Armenia 0.529605 88 7.6    
Georgia 0.496556 89 21.9   Ethiopia 0.510563 89 54.4   Guyana 0.560768 89 −14   Ethiopia 0.526526 89 0.6    
Madagascar 0.492898 90 −11.8   Ghana 0.509333 90 −27.5   Mali 0.545821 90 22   Zimbabwe 0.518954 90 6.3    
Ghana 0.49231 91 0.2   Albania 0.490631 91 −7.2   Uganda 0.542142 91 18.9   Ghana 0.518852 91 14.3    
Ethiopia 0.487095 92 −6.6   Cambodge 0.487082 92 5.6   Armenia 0.528681 92 1.1   Pakistan 0.517305 92 −9    
Cambodge 0.48289 93 −6.5   Burundi 0.486129 93 0.5   Cambodge 0.525787 93 24   Uganda 0.51319 93 −3.2    
Algeria 0.450828 94 2.8   Guyana 0.481262 94 101.3   Pakistan 0.523834 94 −5.5   Cambodge 0.503892 94 3.5    
Nigeria 0.443818 95 8.3   Madagascar 0.472744 95 20.2   Mozambique 0.523379 95 −4.3   Guyana 0.501378 95 2.3    
Armenia 0.440792 96 15   Armenia 0.467436 96 16.2   Bosnia-H. 0.514426 96 −1.5   Bosnia-H. 0.499973 96 1.7    
Bosnia-H. 0.438792 97 −13.4   Nigeria 0.457782 97 −13.3   Nigeria 0.51232 97 −13.1   Mozambique 0.480614 97 5.1    
Guyana 0.437745 98 −38.9   Bosnia-H. 0.455413 98 −9.4   Malawi 0.500162 98 −4.4   Nigeria 0.480194 98 1.3    
Albania 0.434615 99 20.9   Algeria 0.453976 99 −26.9   Algeria 0.493279 99 15.4   Malawi 0.465138 99 6.4    
Malawi 0.43068 100 −5.8   Mozambique 0.453692 100 19   Burundi 0.464195 100 142   Bangladesh 0.45578 100 13.4    
Burkina F 0.428223 101 25.5   Malawi 0.449066 101 −2.7   Bangladesh 0.459544 101 −5.3   Burundi 0.453967 101 −3.1    
Mozambique 0.422707 102 10.4   Bangladesh 0.427774 102 31.4   Lesotho 0.459376 102 −14.2   Lesotho 0.450702 102 −2.3    
Bangladesh 0.421469 103 −12.5   Lesotho 0.426752 103 −6   Madagascar 0.453979 103 −1.2   Madagascar 0.435322 103 11.5    
Lesotho 0.413322 104 −4.1   Burkina F 0.399835 104 8.9   Zimbabwe 0.403288 104 −1.4   Algeria 0.424317 104 5.6    
Zimbabwe 0.385239 105 −0.2   Zimbabwe 0.387016 105 −9.5   Kazakhstan 0.391195 105 2.3   Burkina F 0.396805 105 −1.6    
Kazakhstan 0.359802 106 16   Kazakhstan 0.367371 106 −11.7   Burkina F 0.377852 106 1.7   Paraguay 0.374895 106 6.5    
Paraguay 0.310292 107 10.5   Paraguay 0.307228 107 −3.2   Paraguay 0.374966 107 −7.3   Tunisia 0.274377 107 22.9    

Source: Authors’ own work

Notes

1.

The executive opinion survey is a perception survey conducted among 15,000 executives and business leaders in 139 countries, with an average of about 100 respondents per country. It is a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the WEF in collaboration with its network of partner institutes located in the countries surveyed.

2.

The data used comes mainly from the following sources: WEF, United Nations World Tourism Organization, World Trade Organization, Organisation de l’aviation civile internationale, International Air Transport Association, International Union for Conservation of Nature, World Bank, International Finance Corporation Doing Business, World Health Organization, World Travel and Tourism Council, Booz and Company, Virtual Instrument Software Architecture, International Telecommunication Union, Center for International Earth Science Information Network Yale University, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the International Congress and Convention Association.

Appendix 1. Data sources

  • World Bank

  • CIA World Facts Book

  • Economic Intelligence Unit

  • International Monetary Fund

  • IATA; International Airline Transport Association

  • IUCN and UNEP-WCMC (2011) The World Database on Protected Areas

  • OCDE, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

  • World Tourism Organisation

  • UNEP United Nation Environment Programme

  • WDPA World Data Base on Protected Area

  • World Travel and Tourism Council

Appendix 2

Table A1

Appendix 3

Table A2

Table A3

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the constructive comments of the anonymous reviewers.

Corresponding author

Fabrice Nzepang can be contacted at: fabricenzepang@gmail.com

About the authors

Hervé Honoré Epoh is a PhD Doctor from the Faculty of Economics Sciences and Applied Management at the University of Douala-Cameroon. He is also a member of the Research Group on Theoretical and Applied Economics.

Olivier Ewondo Mbebi is a PhD Doctor from the National Higher Polytechnic School of Douala at the University of Douala-Cameroon. He is also a member of the Research Group of Research in Economics and Management (GREM).

Fabrice Nzepang is a PhD Doctor from the Faculty of Economics Sciences and Applied Management at the University of Douala-Cameroon. He is also a member of the Research Centre on Innovation, Institutions and Inclusive Development.

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