The biennial World Economic Forum Travel’s global Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) 2015 released in Geneva, Switzerland, this week ranked South Africa first in sub-Saharan Africa.
Snatching the top spot from Seychelles in the Sub-Saharan Africa category, South Africa is ranked at number 48 globally, while the Seychelles archipelago of islands was second in the region and followed at a somewhat distant 54 on the world stage.
Seychelles topped the regional rankings in the 2013 report and was at 38 globally, when South Africa held positions 3 and 64 respectively. Mauritius was placed third in the region this year, followed by Namibia, Kenya, Cape Verde, Botswana, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia respectively as the Sub-Saharan top ten of 2015.
On the global front, Spain was ranked at the apex, followed by France and then Germany. Other traditional travel and tourism destinations — the United States, Britain, Switzerland, Australia, Italy, Japan and Canada — made up the rest of the global top ten.
Compared with other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, Indica, China and Soth Africa) countries, South Africa (at 48 globally) was only rated better than India. Brazil was ranked 28, Russia 45, India 52 and China was at an enviable 17 on the global front.
“The diversity in the top 30 shows that a country does not have to be wealthy to have a flourishing tourism sector,” says Roberto Crotti, an Economist at the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The report contains detailed country profiles, benchmarking for the 141 economies featured in the study. It includes a comprehensive summary of their overall positions in the index and a guide to the most prominent travel and tourism advantages and disadvantages of each.
The report’s executive summary states that many countries in the Sub-Saharan region “are working on their openness and visa policies, though the longstanding challenges of infrastructure and health and hygiene standards need to be tackled to unleash the potential of the T&T (travel and tourism) sector as a catalyst for development”.
Published under the theme “Growing through Shocks”, the full edition of the 2015 report features three additional chapters authored by leading experts and practitioners in the hospitality and tourism sector.
