Appendix B

This section provides details about the methodology of the 2021 edition of the Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI). It is composed of the following parts:

– Composition and calculation

– Indicator and country selection

– Indicator list

– Normalization of indicators

– TTDI imputation methodology and imputed values

– Indicator changes and index comparability

The TTDI structure (see Figure B1) is composed of 17 pillars organized into five subindexes:

A. Enabling Environment (five pillars): 1. Business Environment; 2. Safety and Security; 3. Health and Hygiene; 4. Human Resources and Labour Market; 5. ICT Readiness

B. T&T Policy and Enabling Conditions (three pillars): 6. Prioritization of T&T; 7. International Openness; 8. Price Competitiveness

C. Infrastructure (three pillars): 9. Air Transport Infrastructure; 10. Ground and Port Infrastructure; 11. Tourist Service Infrastructure

D. T&T Demand Drivers (three pillars): 12. Natural Resources; 13. Cultural Resources; 14. Non- Leisure Resources

E. T&T Sustainability (three pillars): 15. Environmental Sustainability; 16. Socioeconomic Resilience and Conditions; 17. T&T Demand Pressure and Impact

Figure B1: The Travel & Tourism Development Index 2021 framework

These 17 pillars are comprised of 112 indicators that are calculated on the basis of data derived from the Executive Opinion Survey (the Survey) as well as quantitative data from other sources. The survey data is derived from responses to the World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey and ranges in value from 1 (worst) to 7 (best).

Hard data (non-survey data) was collected from various sources, which are described in Appendix C. All of the data used in the calculation of the TTDI can be found by visiting the online version of the Travel & Tourism Development Index 2021.

The TTDI is calculated as an average (arithmetic mean) of the 17 component pillar averages (arithmetic means). While figures for the five subindexes are provided, they are used for categorization and presentation purposes only. Each of the pillars is calculated as an unweighted average of the individual component variables. Note that the Human Resources and Labour Market pillar is the unweighted average of its two subpillars: Qualification of the Labour Force and Labour Market. Likewise, the Environmental Sustainability pillar is the unweighted average of its three subpillars: Climate Change Exposure and Management, Pollution and Environmental Conditions, and Preservation of Nature.

Hard data indicators used in the TTDI are normalized to a 1-to-7 scale in order to align them with the Executive Opinion Survey’s results. The standard formula for converting each hard data indicator to the 1-to-7 scale is:

The sample minimum and sample maximum are the lowest and highest scores of the overall sample, respectively. For those hard data indicators for which a higher value indicates a worse outcome (e.g. fuel price levels), we rely on a normalization formula that, in addition to converting the series to a 1-to-7 scale, reverses it, so that 1 and 7 still correspond to the worst and best, respectively:

However, in many cases adjustments are made to figures used for sample minimum and sample maximum in order to account for issues such as outliers. See Table B1 for further details.

To be selected for the TTDI, indicators need to meet the following criteria:

– Relevance: The indicator must be an acceptable metric for the concept that is being covered.

– Country coverage: Timely indicator data must be available for the majority of economies covered by the TTDI. In most cases, this means coverage exceeds 100 economies.

– Comparability: Indicator data must be comparable between the various economies covered and throughout its time series.

– Update frequency: The indicator must be regularly updated for the foreseeable future.

– Source quality and objectivity: The indicator must come from a reputable and objective source. In this regard, common sources include international organizations such as the World Bank and World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). To help with comparability, attempts are made to retrieve as much data as possible for a particular indicator from one source.

For data that is missing or is more than 10 years old the following steps are taken:

– First, research is conducted to find an alternative non-government source.

– If no non-government source is found, publicly available government data is collected. However, the respective government is never informed of this action to avoid creating an unfair advantage or increase bias.

– In the case that no data is found using the above two steps, the data is imputed. Please see a list of imputed data in Table B2.

For an economy to be included in the TTDI, it needs to be included in the latest Executive Opinion Survey as this survey accounts for a large share of indicators. Economies that have missing data for 10% or more of total indicators or 20–33% of indicators within any particular pillar (share depends on pillar) are also not covered by the index.

The indicators that make up each pillar – and subpillar, if available – are described below. An asterisk identifies indicators not derived from the Executive Opinion Survey. Italicized indicators are completely new to the 2021 edition of the TTDI.

Table B1 | Normalization of indicators

Table B2 | Normalization of indicators

The table below presents the imputation method and the imputed values by indicator. Note that in the regional profiles, ranking tables and other parts of the report that present raw indicator data, imputed values are not shown.

The 2021 edition of the TTDI differs from the 2019 TTCI in its framework, methodology and indicators. Therefore, it is not advisable to compare these indices. To help address the coverage for 2019, TTDI results were calculated for the year. However, some new indicators did not have data going back to 2019. Therefore, the 2019 TTDI is not a perfect representation of 2019 conditions. For more information on the changes made between the TTCI and TTDI and the implications for the results, please see Appendix A of the Technical notes and methodology section.

The section below provides a summary of source and methodology changes to indicators that have remained between the TTCI and TTDI.

– 2019 TTCI indicator 10.01 Quality of air transport infrastructure has been replaced by 2021 TTDI indicator 9.01 Efficiency of air transport services due to changes made to the latest Executive Opinion Survey.

– 2019 indicators 10.02 Available seat kilometres, domestic and 10.03 Available seat kilometres, international have been replaced by 2021 TTDI’s 9.02 Available seat kilometres. The previous indicators were aggregated before being normalized for the TTCI while the new indicator is already aggregated, thereby cutting out an intermediate step. Moreover, for 9.02, available seat kilometres are now divided by economy population in order to account for size differences between countries. Lastly, while the IATA remains the direct source for the indicator, the underlying data now comes from OAG instead of SRS Analyser.

– 2019 TTCI indicator 11.04 Quality of railroad infrastructure has been replaced by 2021 TTDI indicator 10.03 Efficiency of train services due to changes made to the latest Executive Opinion Survey. Moreover, economies now receive a score of 1 out of 7 for TTDI indicators 10.03 and 10.04 Railroad density if there are no operational passenger rail services in the country. Previously, a lack of rail services led an economy receiving an n/a.

– 2019 TTCI indicator 11.06 Quality of port infrastructure has been replaced by 2021 TTDI indicator 10.07 Efficiency of seaport services due to changes made to the latest Executive Opinion Survey.

– 2019 TTCI indicator 12.03 Presence of major car rental companies (now indicator 11.03) has had a methodology change. The number of car rental companies tracked has increased from seven to 12. The new companies are Ace, Alamo, Enterprise, Localiza and NÜ Car Rentals.

– 2019 TTCI indicator 13.02 Total known species (now indicator 12.02) has had
a methodology change. Previously, the indicator looked only at mammals, birds and amphibians because the International Union for Conservation’s Red List of Threatened Species has almost complete coverage of these groups. However, the indicator now looks at all animals, plants, fungi and chromista covered by the Red List. For many organisms such as plants, the Red List does not come close to having complete coverage, but it was decided that even incomplete coverage would provide a more representative picture of biodiversity in an economy.

– 2019 TTCI indicator 13.04 Natural tourism Digital Demand (now indicator 12.04) has had a methodology change. The number of brandtags covered has expanded from 12 to 20, the number of keywords used from 3,818,000 to 15,721,000 and the number of languages from nine to 21.

– 2019 TTCI indicator 14.05 Cultural and entertainment tourism Digital Demand (now indicator 13.04) has had a methodology change. The number of brandtags covered has expanded from 13 to 21, the number of keywords used from 3,818,000 to 18,308,000 and the number of languages from nine to 21.

– 2019 TTCI indicator 9.08 Forest cover loss (now indicator 15.08) has a new source and methodology. The source has been switched from the Environmental Performance Index to more up-to-date data from Global Forest Watch. Moreover, instead of calculating tree-cover loss between 2000 and the most recent date and dividing by forest extent in 2000, we now use the most recent five- year average of annual tree-cover loss divided by forest extent in 2000. The new methodology makes this indicator more sensitive to recent trends in forest cover.

– 2021 TTDI indicators 8.04 Fuel price levels, 10.02 Road density, 15.05 Particulate matter (2.5) concentration, 15.06 Baseline water stress and 15.14 Total protected areas coverage all have new sources. These sources may differ in methodology compared to sources used for the 2019 original version of these indicators. Moreover, as with indicator 9.02, the underlying data for indicator 9.03 Number of operating airlines now comes from OAG instead of SRS Analyser.