Figure 14: 2024 TTDI scores

This section provides additional analysis of each region and highlights the results for ranked economies. It is important to note that regions are often composed of a wide variety of economies at different levels of development. Therefore, the quantitative results may not reflect some of these more nuanced realities. For a more in-depth visualization of regional data, please click here.

Table 1: TTDI 2024 scores for the Americas

On average, the Americas region underperforms the TTDI mean, with only eight economies scoring above the global mean in 2024. Moreover, fewer than half of its economies have shown an improvement in their scores since 2019, underscoring mixed progress in enabling conditions for T&T development in this highly diverse region.

Scoring above average for Natural Resources, countries in the region can attract visitors with some of the most diverse collections of species and ecoregions. Relatively high T&T Socioeconomic Impact scores also highlight that T&T tends to induce an above-average number of jobs in the broader economy, including an above-average share of relatively high-wage positions. To support this, many of the more T&T-dependent economies in Central America and the Caribbean tend to also score higher for Prioritization of T&T, reflecting stronger government support. Moreover, most of the economies in the region have lower T&T industry employment gender gaps compared to the rest of the TTDI-ranked countries, reinforcing T&T’s role in gender equality. A large number of the region’s states also tend to do well when it comes to T&T Demand Sustainability due to factors such as longer lengths of stay and lower seasonality of arrivals.

However, despite the region’s potential for nature-driven tourism and the sector’s positive socioeconomic impact, the Americas continues to face several challenges. Recent regional improvements in T&T Sustainability need to continue, with factors such as below-average protected area coverage of key biodiversity areas and the growing number of endangered species posing threats to rich natural resources. Moreover, the region requires greater improvement in broader enablers of T&T growth. Particularly noteworthy are subpar business and safety and security conditions. Only Canada scores above average for the Safety and Security pillar, while organized violence, crime and low confidence in the police are especially common issues in Latin America. In addition, the conditions of health and hygiene, human resources and labour market, and ICT readiness consistently lag global levels in terms of both average scores and growth rates, especially outside of the high-income economies. Most Latin American economies also require significant investment in infrastructure, including ground, port and air transport, as well as tourist service infrastructure.

The United States is the top scorer in the TTDI and the largest contributor to T&T GDP, both within the Americas region and globally. Beyond the United States, Canada (11th), Brazil (26th), Mexico (38th) and Argentina (49th) contribute substantially to the remaining T&T GDP in the region. Jamaica (84th) was the most T&T industry-dependent economy in the region in 2022, with Barbados (74th) and Mexico also ranking among the top 10 T&T-dependent economies globally. Brazil stands out as the top TTDI performer in South America. Although the region’s TTDI showed a relatively low rate of improvement compared to 2019, El Salvador emerged as the fastest-growing TTDI performer in the Americas between the 2019 and 2024 index editions (+4.0%, 101st to 97th).

Table 2: TTDI 2024 scores for Asia-Pacific

The Asia-Pacific region ranks as the second-highest performer among regions. Out of the 19 constituent economies covered by the TTDI, 10 surpass the index average, and 11 economies have seen an improvement in their scores since 2019. Nonetheless, between 2021 and 2024, the region experienced the largest average decline in TTDI scores (-0.7%) as it lagged in loosening travel restrictions and has struggled to recover air route capacity and sector investment. Consequently, the region experienced the only decline in average scores for Air Transport Infrastructure (-1.6%) since 2021 and the greatest decline in Tourist Services and Infrastructure (-4.4%).

Asia-Pacific is extensive and exhibits notable variations in the T&T development enablers. Broadly speaking, Asia-Pacific’s strong economic and middle-class expansion in recent years, combined with exceptional blends of natural, cultural and non-leisure resources, have historically helped drive rapid growth in travel demand. Countries such as China, Japan and India are home to some of the largest tourism economies in the world and all three rank near the top for natural, cultural and non-leisure assets. Generally, the more developed and high-income economies within the region such as Japan, Australia, South Korea and Singapore feature quality transportation and digital infrastructure, high levels of openness and supportive environments that guarantee high standards in business activities, safety and security, healthcare and workforce quality. In contrast, the region’s emerging economies, mostly in South and South-East Asia, possess notable regional advantages in price competitiveness, but typically lag in factors such as transport, tourism and ICT infrastructure and enabling environments such as conducive business conditions.

Looking at the region’s development since 2019 reveals that notable progress has been made throughout the region in areas such as Ground and Port Infrastructure (+5.1%), ICT Readiness (8.2%), Cultural Resources (5.5%) and T&T Socioeconomic Impact, especially in South Asia (+30.2%). Moreover, the signing and implementation of treaties such as the ASEAN-EU Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement (CATA) and the ASEAN Single Aviation Market are expected to help boost intraregional and international aviation in South-East Asia. Accordingly, the subregion had the highest improvements in indicator scores for air service agreements since 2019 (+6.0%).

In the coming years, the region’s T&T market is expected to resume its historically high rate of growth. However, to develop T&T in a sustainable and resilient manner, far more attention needs to be focused on environmental sustainability, especially if developing economies in South and South-East Asia wish to preserve their tourism-generating nature assets. Moreover, many of these subregion destinations’ capacity to absorb increasing tourism demand and ability to benefit from new technology will need to be improved via greater investment in transport, ICT and, in particular, tourist services infrastructure. Business and labour market reforms will also be needed to create more favourable conditions for T&T operators. Lastly, more progress is needed to improve the T&T sector’s ability to generate positive economic and social impact. Despite progress, many developing economies in Asia-Pacific score below average for T&T Socioeconomic Impact, with the T&T sector in South-East Asian states often generating fewer high-wage jobs, employment and GDP than the index mean, while South Asian economies score low for sector gender parity.

In 2024, Japan (3rd) is the top performer in the APAC region, with Australia (5th) and China (8th) ranking in the global top 10. China also has the region’s largest and the world’s second-largest T&T economy, while India (39th) has the largest T&T sector in South Asia and scores as the TTDI’s top lower-middle-income economy. Meanwhile, the Philippines (69th) has relied the most on T&T for its GDP in 2022. While Singapore (13th) is the top performer in South-East Asia, neighbouring Indonesia experienced the greatest improvement in score in the region (+4.5%, 36th to 22nd).

Table 3: TTDI scores for Europe and Eurasia

Europe has consistently held its position as the top-performing region in the TTDI, outperforming the global average across most pillars, with 34 of its ranked economies scoring above the index average. As one of the most economically developed regions in the world, Europe provides the best enabling environments for the T&T sector, including conducive business, safety and hygiene conditions, quality human resources and labour markets, and well-developed ICT infrastructure. Travel to the region’s leading non-leisure and cultural destinations is facilitated by top-tier transport and tourist infrastructure and a high degree of economic integration and T&T openness. These advantages hold particular significance in the more developed subregions of Western, Southern and Northern Europe, laying a solid foundation for enduring high-quality T&T.

These advantages helped Europe recover almost completely from the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of 2023. Nonetheless, the already mature nature of the region’s T&T economy and the lingering effects of the pandemic have meant that the region’s average TTDI score has improved by only 0.4% since 2019. While travel recovery helped drive the largest average regional increase in Air Transport Infrastructure (+10.4%) between the 2021 and 2024 index editions, average scores for this pillar and Tourist Services and Infrastructure remain below 2019 levels. Air route capacity and connectivity, T&T capital investment and labour productivity are still depressed compared to peak pre-pandemic levels, while the number of hotel rooms has marginally increased since before the pandemic, although short-term rental listings have yet to recover. Combined with demand growth and broader inflation, the lag in T&T capacity has helped fuel a regional decline in price competitiveness (-6.6%, 2021 to 2024). Nevertheless, despite ongoing challenges, since 2019 less mature T&T economies in the Balkans and Eastern Europe and Eurasia have become more competitive, improving in areas such as ICT and ground infrastructure, visa openness and the development of natural and cultural resources.

Going forward, several challenges pose risks to the development of Europe and Eurasia’s T&T sector. While the region is among the safest in the world, the spread of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine represents a significant risk, as does inflation. Low scores for T&T Demand Sustainability indicate that overcrowding, high levels of seasonality and short lengths of stay are also increasing pressure on many destinations, often leading to local backlashes against visitors. The region’s far-from-ideal T&T Socioeconomic Impact average score also indicates that these issues may be further exacerbated if more is not done to improve sector wage competitiveness and distribution of economic benefits to communities. Many European tourism companies continue to face labour shortages, which may be partially explained by relatively low sector wages compared to other segments of the economy just as broad competition for skilled labour rises. Combined with associated declines in labour productivity and T&T investment caused by the pandemic, the sector’s ability to induce broader economic growth and employment has been more limited. On the other hand, many European countries lead the world in environmental sustainability and nature preservation efforts, which bodes well for the region’s increasingly competitive natural offerings as reflected in climbing average scores for Natural Resources (+7.8%, 2019 to 2024).

Many European tourism companies continue to face labour shortages, which may be partially explained by relatively low sector wages compared to other segments of the economy just as broad competition for skilled labour rises. Combined with associated declines in labour productivity and T&T investment caused by the pandemic, the sector’s ability to induce broader economic growth and employment has been more limited. On the other hand, many European countries lead the world in environmental sustainability and nature preservation efforts, which bodes well for the region’s increasingly competitive natural offerings as reflected in climbing average scores for Natural Resources (+7.8%, 2019 to 2024).

Spain ranks highest in the region (2nd), yet France (4th), Germany (6th), the United Kingdom (7th), Italy (9th) and Switzerland (10th) all rank among the top 10 on the index. Spain is also the top performer in Southern Europe, with France, Denmark (17th), Poland (27th) and Georgia (45th) scoring the highest in Western Europe, Northern Europe, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, and Eurasia, respectively. While most high-income economies have experienced slight changes in their TTDI scores, the performance of Uzbekistan (+7.8%, 94th to 78th) has shown the most improvement in both score and rank compared to 2019. In 2022, Germany remained the region’s largest and the world’s third-largest T&T economy, and Croatia (46th) was the most T&T-dependent economy in the region.

Table 4: TTDI 2024 scores for Middle East and North Africa

While the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region underperforms the global TTDI average, with only four out of the 14 economies in the region covered by the index scoring above average, it has increased its relative TTDI performance since 2019. In general, MENA exhibits substantial variation in performance across its subregions and diverse levels of economic development.

The Middle East subregion is home to high-income economies, including all of the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (e.g. the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia). T&T in these economies benefits from better tourist and transport infrastructure, including leading aviation hubs and airlines, the presence of large corporations and important business centres that drive business travel and more conducive business conditions and high levels of interpersonal safety and security, among other factors. On the other hand, MENA’s middle-income economies tend to be more price-competitive, with economies such as Egypt, Iran and Morocco possessing some of the region’s most attractive cultural resources. However, T&T operations in MENA’s developing economies are often challenged by issues ranging from less favourable business conditions to safety and security concerns and gaps in transport and tourism infrastructure.

Average air route capacity and airport connectivity have been among the greatest regional indicator improvements since the 2021 TTDI edition, resulting in the second-greatest increase in Air Transport Infrastructure scores (+8.4%). Moreover, many MENA countries have implemented policies and invested substantial resources into developing T&T, often as a way to diversify economies away from oil and gas production. In part, these efforts are reflected in broad increases in government T&T spending as a share of budgets, loosened visa requirements, improvements in the establishment and promotion of cultural resources and the highest regional average for T&T capital spending per employee in the index. The impact of these efforts may also have fed the greatest regional average increase in T&T Socioeconomic Impact scores (+13.8%, 2019 to 2024), as GDP and jobs induced by T&T and the share of sector jobs that are considered high wage also climbed.

Going forward, the degree to which T&T can help bring prosperity and diversification to the countries of the region will depend not only on investment in factors such as infrastructure and attractions but also on reducing the concentration of tourism at the most visited destinations and creating a competitive workforce. Currently, issues such as lower female labour force participation, the resulting large gender gap in T&T jobs and below-average workers’ rights and social protections limit access to human capital, reduce workforce resilience and diminish T&T’s potential to generate societal benefits. Unsurprisingly, despite improvement, the region scores the lowest for T&T Socioeconomic Impact. Regional T&T would also benefit from further reductions in travel and trade restrictions and substantial investment in environmental sustainability to assist any future improvements in natural resources. Moreover, the recent rise in regional conflict, leading to increased safety and security concerns (including in economies not covered by the TTDI), represents a major external risk for future tourism development.

The United Arab Emirates (18th) is the top performer in the region overall and the Middle East subregion, while Egypt (61st) stands out as the top scorer in the North Africa subregion. Saudi Arabia has shown the most regional improvement in the index score and ranking since 2019 (+5.7%, 50th to 41st). In 2022, the region’s largest T&T economy was Iran (73rd), with other major GDP contributors including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Morocco (82nd) was the most dependent on T&T for GDP.

Table 5: TTDI 2024 scores for Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa (Africa) has shown the most substantial enhancement in TTDI performance since 2019 (+2.1%), with 16 out of the 19 regional economies covered by the index increasing their TTDI scores. The sector’s potential to drive socioeconomic prosperity makes it an essential tool for development. In 2024, the region had the highest score for T&T Socioeconomic Impact, with the T&T industry in Africa generating, on average, over 21% more jobs for each direct position than the TTDI mean, and with an average of over 43% of the sector workforce employed in segments that are considered relatively high wage.

Africa’s potential for T&T development is influenced by several factors, including its notable price competitiveness and natural resources for tourism. However, considerable challenges still have to be overcome if the region is to produce favourable conditions for T&T growth. Regional policy-makers and T&T stakeholders need to continue the recent progress in creating more supportive business environments, improving health and hygiene conditions, fostering higher-quality human resources and labour markets and advancing ICT infrastructure. For instance, investment and policy directed at supporting inclusive working conditions, workers’ rights and education can help make the region’s large and growing labour force more competitive and resilient. Addressing widespread health, safety and security challenges will also help to encourage investment and make African destinations more attractive to foreign visitors.

While many African governments’ ability to support the sector is limited due to resource constraints, with the region’s already low scores for Prioritization of T&T (e.g. government T&T spending and data collection) falling even more since 2019 (-9.8%), non-spending policies can be pursued. Encouragingly, African states have made unilateral and multilateral strides in policies that should encourage cross-border travel and trade (e.g. the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Free Movement of Persons Protocol and Single African Air Transport Market), and drive currently low levels of intraregional connectivity. For instance, on average, African countries covered by the TTDI have liberal visa requirements that can help facilitate cross-border travel. However, the implementation of many policies aimed at greater international openness has lagged, with the region scoring low for the number and degree of liberalization of air service agreements. This can, in particular, make it more difficult for Africa’s already underdeveloped aviation sector to grow. Innovative funding solutions for air, ground and port infrastructure also need to be found to make destinations easier to access. Encouraging environmental sustainability to protect valuable tourism-generating nature assets, developing tourist service infrastructure and greater promotion and protection of cultural resources also need to be prioritized in the years to come.

South Africa (55th) ranks the highest in the region and is home to its largest T&T economy. Meanwhile, Mauritius (57th) and Ghana (106th) rank the highest in Eastern and Western Africa, with the former also being the region’s most T&T-dependent economy in 2022. Côte d’Ivoire has shown the greatest improvement in TTDI score (+6.4%, 116th to 114th).