Among the top 10 countries on the list, Europe demonstrated an impressive showing. Spain ranked second, while France, Germany, the UK, Italy, and Switzerland nabbed spots four, six, seven, nine, and 10, respectively. Rounding out the list, Japan ranked third, Australia fifth, and China eighth. The data also showed that of 119 economies reviewed, 71 displayed improvement between 2019 and 2023. However, the average index scores were only 0.7% above pre-pandemic levels.
Of the countries that improved their scores since 2019, 52 were those with low to upper-middle-income economies. Countries such as Uzbekistan, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Indonesia, and Nigeria all showed growth; however, the report also notes that “despite above-average growth, non-high-income economies account for nearly 90% of below-average index scorers, indicating a need for further investment to close gaps in enabling conditions if these economies wish to increase their share of the travel and tourism market.”
