TRAVEL & TOURISM DEVELOPMENT INDEX (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 – Economy)

Context: A recent World Economic Forum (WEF) report predicts that the travel and tourism sector's contribution to global GDP will return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024.

Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI)

• About: WEF has developed a Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) which rates countries in terms of their travel readiness.

oThis report is important because it has been developed as the industry standard and is the result of a collaboration between key industry partners and stakeholders. 

• TTDI focuses on five pillars: Travel and Tourism sector: Enabling environment, Travel & Tourism Policy and Enabling Conditions, Infrastructure, Travel & Tourism Demand Drivers, Travel & Tourism, and Sustainability.
• India’s Status: India, with a score of 4.25, holds the 39th position and is the only South Asian nation in the top 50 countries. (54th in the 2021).

oThe country is highly price-competitive (18) and boasts competitive air transport (26) and ground and port (25) infrastructure.

oThe rise was driven by the country’s strong natural (6), cultural (9), and non-leisure (9) resources. India is among the only three countries to score in the top 10 for all the resource pillars.

World Economic Forum

• About: The WEF is a Swiss nonprofit foundation established in 1971, based in Geneva, Switzerland.
• Initiated by: German professor Klaus Schwab
• Recognized by: Swiss authorities as the international institution for public-private cooperation.
• Funded by: WEF is largely funded by its partnering corporations. These are generally global enterprises with annual turnover greater than $5 billion.
• Mission: Committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.
• Some major reports published by WEF are: Energy Transition Index, Global Competitiveness Report, Global IT Report - WEF along with INSEAD, and Cornell University publishes this report, Global Gender Gap Report, Global Travel and Tourism Report.