Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2015 - the Southern/Eastern African countries

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has released the biennial Travel &Tourism Competitiveness Report 2015. The report, which features the latest iteration of the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), measures "the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable development of the Travel & Tourism (T&T) sector, which in turn, contributes to the development and competitiveness of a country." The TTCI benchmarks the T&T competitiveness of 141 economies. It comprises four subindexes, 14 pillars, and 90 individual indicators.
Based on the TTCI, the report reveals that Spain, France and Germany lead the world in terms of travel and tourism competitiveness. The United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, Italy, Japan and Canada complete the this year's top 10.
South Africa is the highest-ranked Sub-Sharan African country in the Index on position #48 (regional rank #1), followed by the Seychelles (#54|#2), Mauritius (#56|#3), Namibia (#70|#4) and Kenya (#78|#5).

South Africa (global #48 | regional #1)

• positive: rich natural and cultural resources, positive business environment, relatively good infrastructure compared to neighboring countries, still reaping the benefits of the 2010 World Cup (several sport stadiums that can host significant entertainment events), several association meetings taking place in the country, abundant wildlife, severeal World Heritage Sites, ranked 24th in online searches for nature-related activities, attention to forestry, attention to participation in international treaties
• negative: further efforts should be taken to protect coastlines, further efforts should be taken to protect biodiversity, further efforts should be taken to protect land, development needed in terms of security, development needed in terms of health, development needed in terms of labour market, visa policy ("In addition, South Africa’s visa policy (where the country currently ranks 67th) is poised to become more stringent with the imposition of new immigration laws that also impact visitors, this could certainly harm South Africa’s T&T competitiveness going forward." [The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2015, p.22])

Seychelles (#56 | #3)

• positive: safe environment, business-friendly environment, qualified human resources, a ground and tourist service infrastructure that can adequately transport and receive the almost 1 million tourists visiting the country annually
• negative: air transport infrastructure is somewhat less developed, balancing infrastructure development with conservation is becoming more challenging (a high share of species under threat and limited protected areas), greater attention to all aspects of environmental conservation could be beneficial

Kenya (#78 | #5)

• positive: natural resources, high number of online searches for natural tourism, home to many species, home to many UNESCO heritage sites, Kenya invests approx 7% of its budget in tourism, Kenya has carried out an effective marketing campaign, environmental sustainability is an area of strength
• negative: main areas of improvement are security, health and hygiene, ICT readiness

Botswana (#88 | #7)

• positive: natural resources, strong price competitiveness advantage, a relatively conducive business environment, better safety and security levels than many peers
• negative: ground transport and air and tourist service infrastructures need significant upgrades, rich cultural resources are not well leveraged, country branding is relatively poor

Southern & Eastern African countries in the Travel &Tourism Competitiveness Report 2015:

1. South Africa (global #48)
2. Seychelles (#54)
3. Mauritius (#56)
4. Namibia (#70)
5. Kenya (#78)
6. Botswana (#88)
7. Tanzania (#93)
8. Rwanda (#98)
9. Zambia (#107)
10. Swaziland (#108)
11. Uganda (#114)
12. Zimbabwe (#115)
13. Ethiopia (#118)
14. Madagascar (#121)
15. Malawi (#126)
16. Lesotho (#129)
17. Mozambique (#130)
18. Burundi (#135)
19. Angola (#139)