China improved its position to 15th in global tourism competitiveness ranking

Almaty. April 10. Silkroadnews – China has improved its position to 15th in the global tourism competitiveness ranking, the data published in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report released by the World Economic Forum.

Thus, the report shows, China continues to deliver a strong performance rising 2 positions in the index to reach 15th place in the global ranking. Welcoming nearly 57 million tourists, China accounts for over 20% of international arrivals in the region. Although only 5% of its population holds a passport, it is also the largest source market in the region with 127.9 million departures in 2015.

Already endowed with exceptional natural (5th) and cultural resources (1st), China has greatly benefited from increased international openness (up 24 positions), improved ICT readiness (72nd, but up 8 positions) and further investments in its ground and tourist service infrastructure (up 9 and 10 positions respectively).

In the meantime, Kazakhstan has also improved its position in the ranking rising 4 positions from 85th in 2015 to 81st among 136 countries of the world.

Among the post-Soviet states in the ranking there are Estonia (37th), Russia (43rd) and Latvia (54th), followed by Lithuania (56th), Georgia (70th), Azerbaijan (71st), Ukraine (88th), Tajikistan (107th), Kyrgyzstan (115th).
Spain, France, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Australia, Italy, Canada and Switzerland continue to top the rankings in 2017.

The ranking is published every two years, starting from 2007. In 2017 it covered 136 countries evaluated across 14 dimensions related to the experience the tourists have when travelling across the country. The dimensions include historical and cultural heritage, development of economy, transport, hotel sector, communications, medicine, state policy for tourism, etc.