In the most recent iteration of the biennial Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report released by the World Economic Forum, the Philippines was given a ranking of 75th out of 117 economies in the Travel and Tourism Development Index for 2021.
The Philippines got a score of 3.7 in the new index which has an enhanced focus on the sector’s overall role in economic and social development and the greater need for stakeholder collaboration and development strategies.
In the 2019 edition of the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, the Philippines placed 73rd with a score of 3.7.
The current index gives a score of one to seven, with one being worst and seven being the best.
It has five sub-indexes: enabling environment, travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions, infrastructure, travel and tourism demand drivers, and travel and tourism sustainability.
A lot of room for improvement was found for the Philippines which ranked within the bottom half in 4 of the 5 sub-indexes.
We ranked 87th in the enabling environment sub-index which covers business environment, safety and security, health and hygiene, human resources and labor market, and information communications technology readiness.
In travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions which covers prioritization of travel and tourism, international openness and price competitiveness, we placed 61st.
For infrastructure, the Philippines was 75th and in terms of travel and tourism sustainability index, it was 85th.
The best score came in terms of travel and tourism demand drivers which covers natural, cultural and non-leisure resources, were we placed 35th.
The value of tourism to the nation and its development was exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic also gave it a much-needed reboot that if maximized by stakeholders, can result in a revitalized industry that is more sustainable and inclusive. If the WEF report can evolved from a report to an index, so should the Philippine tourism industry.
Let us look forward to steady and continuous improvements in the state of the country’s tourism and its contribution to national development.*
