Context

• India was ranked 36th out of 119 countries in the Travel and Tourism Development Index 2024 recently released by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Key Points

• The United States (US) tops the ranking in this index and India is the top performer among South Asia and lower-middle-income countries.
• In this order, Spain, Japan, France and Australia are the top four countries in the list of 2024.
• The 2024 Travel and Tourism Development Index was prepared in collaboration with the University of Surrey, England.
• This year 119 countries have been included in the index.
• The Travel and Tourism Development Index assigns a score to a country based on 17 pillars and 102 individual indicators.
• The maximum score in this index is 7, while the minimum score is 1.

Top 5 countries and their scores

1. United States – 5.24 

2.Spain- 5.18

3.Japan- 5.09

4.France - 5.07

5.Australia- 5.00 

Bottom ranked countries and their scores

119. Gardener Score – 2.78 

118. Sierra Leone – 2.9 

• India's overall score in the 2024 index is 4.25. India has performed well in high price competitiveness (18th in the world), competitive air transport (26th) as well as land and port (25th) infrastructure.
• It is noteworthy that India was ranked 6th in natural resources, 9th in cultural resources and 9th in non-leisure resources.

India's total TTDI score

• The country's overall Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) score is 2.1 percent lower than 2019 levels. 
• Leading the index are the high-income economies of Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
• Notably, the travel and tourism sector continues to grow post-pandemic, but its recovery has been mixed and operating conditions have been challenging. 
• 71 out of 119 TTDI-ranked economies have increased their scores between the 2019 and 2024 editions.

Important Facts For Exam

World Economic Forum

• International organization for public-private cooperation
• Establishment : 1971
• Founder :Klaus Schwab
• Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
• Major reports: Global Competitiveness Report and Global Gender Gap Report, Energy Transition Index, Global Risks Report, Global Travel and Tourism Report etc