Security issues pull down Phl tourism ranking

Safety and security issues have resulted in the decline of the Philippines’ ranking in the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report.

The country dropped five notches in the latest edition of the bi-annual Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, which measures how “tourism-friendly” the economies are.

The Philippines ranked 79th out of 136 countries in

this year’s report, compared to placing 74th out of 141 economies in 2015.

The country’s tourism attractiveness was dragged down by safety and security concerns, poor ground and port infrastructure and lackluster environment policy.

Among the nine Southeast Asian countries measured in the report, the Philippines ranked third to last, ahead only of Laos (94th) and Cambodia (101st).

Spain, France and Germany were the top three most tourism-friendly destinations in the world, based on the report. They were followed by Japan at 4th and the United Kingdom at 5th.

Completing the top 10 are the United States, Australia, Italy, Canada and Switzerland.

The 2017 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report measured each economy’s attractiveness through 14 pillars, with each having its own sub-pillars.

The country’s most enticing aspects proved to be its price competitiveness and natural resources, being ranked 22nd and 37th globally, respectively.

The price competitiveness pillar is composed of ticket taxes, airport charges, hotel price index, purchasing power parity and fuel price levels, while the natural resources pillar is composed of the number of World Heritage natural sites, total known species, total protected areas, natural tourism digital demand and attractiveness of natural assets.

Other dimensions where the Philippines performed well are in human resources and labor market (50th), prioritization of travel and tourism (53rd) and business cultural

Turn to Page 3