The following section provides a high-level analysis of each of the TTDI’s five dimensions.

Please note: analysis will often focus on average pillar and/or indicator performance and selected takeaways and may not always reflect the wide variety of economy and country grouping performance. For a more detailed look at TTDI data, including interactive dashboards, please visit the index website.

Figure 6: TTDI Enabling Environment dimension pillar average score performance

Pillars under the Enabling Environment dimension capture the general conditions necessary for T&T operations in a country. Overall business (Business Environment pillar), health (Health and Hygiene pillar) and safety conditions (Safety and Security pillar), access to a qualified, dynamic and resilient workforce (Human Resource and Labour Market pillar) and ICT (ICT Readiness pillar) have a substantial impact on T&T business operations, investment and visitor decision-making. Since 2019, there has been a notable improvement across all pillars within this dimension, indicating positive developments in various areas that affect T&T operations.

ICT Readiness scores have surged by 7.2% since 2019, with 97% of economies showing positive momentum, driven by expanded online access, mobile network coverage and digital payment usage, notably in developing nations. The advancement in ICT Readiness is pivotal as it encourages the further digitalization of T&T services. With online bookings, sharing economy platforms, digital payments and mobile access increasingly defining T&T services, digital technology and online platforms empower destinations and T&T businesses, including SMEs, to access new markets, optimize operations, enhance visitor engagement, and gather consumer insights and preferences.⁸ Accordingly, past research has found positive relationships between ICT Readiness and international tourism receipts.⁹

Moreover, there was notable progress in the Business Environment (+3.1%) and Human Resources and Labour Market (+2.5%) pillars between the 2019 and 2024 index editions. In part, these advances reflect economy-wide policies implemented during the pandemic, including reductions in burdensome government regulations, expanded access to financing for SMEs, and more favourable and flexible labour regulations and working arrangements, all of which should help make it easier for T&T operators to do business.

However, despite positive trends, results also point to several challenges threatening the T&T sector’s growth momentum. Scores for labour force participation rates remain below 2019 levels in nearly half of the ranked economies, with decreased average scores for perceptions of the ease of finding skilled employees (since 2021) – especially in mature tourism economies such as advanced European countries, the United States and Japan – helping to explain T&T labour shortages. Moreover, many economies in the Global South continue to face challenges in building more favourable enabling environments. For example, business conditions in developing countries have faced setbacks since 2021, with issues such as property rights, judicial effectiveness and government corruption further deteriorating.¹⁰

Meanwhile, declining credit ratings among many Latin American, African and South Asian economies reflect the high interest rates and increased debt pressure faced by governments and companies post-pandemic,¹¹ potentially discouraging investment in T&T. Despite improvements, low scores for Health and Hygiene in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa (-46.7% below 2024 mean) and Safety and Security in regions such as the Americas (-14.5% below 2024 mean) may further impede T&T development amid heightened global health and security concerns.

Figure 7: T&T workforce distribution by peer group and by country labour market resilience and equality conditions

Lastly, labour market resilience and equality have also become increasingly crucial considerations post-pandemic. Effective social protections and inclusive policies can enhance productivity, widen the labour pool and bolster resilience.¹² This is vital for the T&T sector, which relies heavily on employing youth, women, informal workers and small enterprises.¹³ However, nearly 70% of non-high-income economies’ T&T labour force is based in countries scoring below average for the TTDI’s new Labour Market Resilience and Equality subpillar (Figure 7), with the majority of countries in Latin America, the Middle East, North and sub-Saharan Africa and South and South-East Asia scoring below the mean. This highlights potential resilience and human capital access issues for T&T employers. Consequently, T&T stakeholders in many countries will have to take a more active role in investing in more skilled, inclusive and resilient workforces and help address issues ranging from workers’ rights and conditions to equal opportunities for women and disadvantaged groups.

The T&T Policy and Enabling Conditions dimension tracks policies and conditions more directly tied to encouraging T&T sector growth. This includes the extent to which the government actively promotes, measures and invests in the development of the T&T sector (Prioritization of T&T pillar), the degree to which a country is open to visitors and providing travel services (Openness to T&T pillar) and how costly it is to travel or operate in a country (Price Competitiveness pillar).

Figure 8: TTDI T&T Policy and Enabling Conditions dimension pillar average score performance

Since 2021, the TTDI has witnessed a significant decline in Price Competitiveness (-8.0%), driven by increasing fuel and operating expenses and supply-demand imbalances in the sector, exacerbated by geopolitical and macroeconomic factors causing higher general inflation and rising energy costs. Average gasoline (petrol) prices for ranked economies surged by nearly 20% between 2019 and mid-2023. Meanwhile, as will be explained in the next dimension analysis, sectoral difficulties in regaining pre-pandemic labour and capacity levels amid surging demand have created supply constraints and increased prices for accommodation and services in various economies.

While T&T demand has remained resilient, there are already signs that consumers are adapting to high inflation by seeking better deals, opting for local or off-season trips and, when possible, using more price-competitive ground transport over flying.¹⁴ Under such conditions, travel demand in T&T economies with larger domestic markets and less dependence on international visitors may prove more resilient, as may more price-competitive, lower-income economies, especially if travel to them is not expensive. Consumer responses to pricing pressure also present an opportunity for destinations to promote more sustainable travel by encouraging local experiences, diversifying demand to less expensive secondary destinations and off-peak travel, and facilitating the use of less emissions-intensive transport modes such as trains.

Moreover, besides the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions (not captured by the TTDI), index findings reveal that many nations have enacted additional policies to bolster their T&T sector by expanding international travel market access, resulting in an average enhancement in the Openness to T&T pillar (+2.5%, 2019 to 2024). Much of this advance stems from increased visa accessibility and passport mobility, particularly among developing and lower-ranked economies, with the bottom 30 pillar performers increasing their scores almost five times faster than the top 30. UN Tourism data illustrates that 42 predominantly low to middle-income, TTDI-ranked economies from regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, South America, and South, South-East and Central Asia have relaxed source-market-weighted visa requirements. Many countries have also tailored their visa policies to target emerging travel segments and promote and benefit from their natural, cultural and non-leisure assets. For example, Estonia introduced a “digital nomad visa” catering to international remote workers,¹⁵ while South Korea is tapping into K-pop’s popularity by offering visas for those seeking training at local performing arts academies.¹⁶

Meanwhile, growth in above-average Openness to T&T pillar scores in Europe and South-East Asia has been reinforced by enhanced air service integration, with multilateral agreements such as the ASEAN-EU Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement (CATA) and the ASEAN Single Aviation Market expected to boost intraregional and international air travel and competition among European and South-East Asian tourism economies. Air liberalization policies such as these could help increase air route capacity and potentially reduce aviation prices over the long term, with previous TTDI findings showing a correlation between air liberalization and Air Transport Infrastructure scores.¹⁷

On the other hand, while travel facilitation policies are progressing, declining average scores for Prioritization of T&T (-4.6%, 2019 to 2024) reflect COVID-19 pandemic-era challenges and the evolving nature of government support and its role in T&T development. For instance, scores for Country Brand Strategy ratings (a measure of the accuracy of online National Tourism Organization [NTO] brand strategy) dropped nearly 19% since 2019 in part due to the shift in branding and promotional content featured by NTOs during the pandemic. In general, a greater number of entities such as NTOs and destination management/marketing organizations (DMOs) have changed their role in response to the pandemic and evolving travel trends. For example, pandemic-induced disruptions to travel demand and T&T operations and increased awareness of the need to address T&T’s economic, social and environmental impact have led many destination organizations to move away from just increasing visitor numbers and promoting tourism to destination stewardship.¹⁸

Even before the pandemic, DMOs were increasingly focusing on managing visitor flows, promoting lesser-known destinations and engaging stakeholders to ensure tourism benefits communities and respects the local culture and nature.¹⁹ As will be further discussed in the special focus section of the report, this evolution in destination management will become increasingly crucial to ensure T&T remains a positive force for addressing future economic, environmental, societal, geopolitical and technological challenges. However, this shift in strategy will also require further investment in resources and relevant skills and competencies by responsible public entities. Moreover, novel approaches will be needed to fund these requirements. While T&T’s share of government spending has increased in 115 economies since 2021, future spending may be constrained by high interest rates and fiscal limitations, particularly in low to lower-middle-income economies.

The TTDI’s Infrastructure and Services dimension tracks the availability of quality transport and tourism infrastructure and services. This includes air connectivity and capacity (Air Transport Infrastructure pillar), road and railroad network extensiveness and efficient public transportation (Ground and Port Infrastructure) and the availability of quality accommodation and T&T sector capital investment and productivity (Tourist Services and Infrastructure pillar).

Figure 9: TTDI Infrastructure and Services dimension pillar average score performance

The TTDI’s Infrastructure and Services dimension reflects the T&T sector’s supply and demand imbalance. With borders reopening and travel restrictions lifted, there has been a surge in pent-up demand and international travel. While T&T operations have restarted, as is particularly evident in the Air Transport Infrastructure pillar with increasing average scores (+6.6%) between 2021 and 2024, many economies are still below their 2019 performance levels, notably in Asia-Pacific due to prolonged travel restrictions. Moreover, the Tourism Services and Infrastructure pillar average score is 7.6% below its 2019 level, with minimal growth in the average score for accommodation capacity for hotels (+1.4%), and short-term rental listings yet to recover. Although T&T employment and capital investment have risen since 2021, they remain below pre-pandemic levels in most regions, with average capital investment per employee scores more than 13.7% lower than in 2019, contributing to reduced scores for labour productivity in hotels and restaurants (-13.1% since 2019). Labour shortages, particularly in high-income economies, have exacerbated supply constraints, with many workers opting for less seasonal and higher-paying jobs with better conditions. By the end of 2022, the WTTC estimated a labour shortfall of 11.0% and 7.0% in the T&T sectors of the European Union and the United States, respectively.²⁰

In the near term, growth in travel demand combined with the lag in supply variables such as air route capacity, investment, labour and productivity are likely to continue to generate supply and demand imbalances that drive travel prices and disrupt services. These issues may be further amplified if global interest remains high and discourages sector-related investment. However, sector decision-makers can take several steps to address service capacity constraints in the longer term. The WTTC lists facilitating greater labour mobility, flexible working arrangements, decent work and competitive benefits, skills building and adaptation of digital solutions as some of the policy options that government and business can take to address labour shortages.²¹ Moreover, policy responses to the pandemic have shown how access to credit and business-friendly regulations and tax environments can also support T&T operators, especially the more resource-limited SMEs that account for most T&T service providers.²²

In the longer term, the TTDI also highlights the continued need to bridge the infrastructure gaps between and within economies. Overall average scores for the pillars under the Infrastructure and Services dimension are among the lowest in the index, indicating that many countries may lack the transport and service capacity to properly develop their T&T sector. This is especially the case for developing economies. While scores for Ground and Port Infrastructure have slightly increased since 2019 (+2.4%), reflecting progress in ground infrastructure investment in developing economies, high-income economies still outscored non-high-income ones by 56.0% across the overall Infrastructure and Services dimension in the 2024 TTDI.

Moreover, as will be further explored in the special focus section, irrespective of the stage of economic development, the return of overcrowding, pricing pressures and environmental concerns highlight the need for sector infrastructure investment to be made with local communities in mind, geared towards better distribution of tourism flows and increasing access to secondary destinations.

Figure 10: TTDI T&T Resources dimension pillar average score performance

The T&T Resources dimension assesses the attractions, activities and assets driving T&T demand. This includes the development, promotion and demand for natural capital (e.g. nature parks and fauna), cultural assets (e.g. archaeological sites and entertainment facilities) and draws for non-leisure travel (e.g. location of globalized cities, major corporations and universities) through the Natural, Cultural and Non-Leisure Resources pillars. It is important to reinforce the point that these pillars are as much about the promotion and development of resources for use as they are about the innate natural, cultural and other forms of heritage of a country.

Figure 11: T&T resources vs. tourist arrivals

Index results underscore the pivotal role the development of natural, cultural and non-leisure resources plays in driving T&T demand, with T&T Resource dimension scores correlating with tourist demand (Figure 11). Notably, the location of natural and cultural assets is less closely associated with economic development, creating opportunities for developing economies such as Brazil, Colombia, India, Mexico, Thailand and Türkiye, which have a strong portfolio of such assets to cultivate thriving tourism sectors. In particular, in 2024, non-high-income economies account for 21 out of the top 30 scorers for Natural Resources. Nevertheless, the distribution of T&T resource development remains highly concentrated, with the top 20 dimension performers – predominantly in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe – surpassing the index average by approximately 90% in 2024, helping to explain their close to 60% share of international arrivals in 2022. While some of this lopsided dimension performance is related to the uneven distribution of attractions such as fauna and famous archaeological sites, it may also indicate an underuse or underdevelopment of T&T resources for tourism growth.

Effectively harnessing innate natural and cultural capital for tourism necessitates, among other factors, comprehensive management, promotion and protection strategies, along with robust infrastructure and ICT readiness to facilitate travel and digital promotion. Discrepancies in these areas may contribute to variations in visitor numbers among destinations with comparable dimension scores (as shown in Figure 11). For instance, out of the top 20 scores for the number of terrestrial and fresh-water ecoregions, only six scored among the top 20 for natural tourism Digital Demand (a measure of online search volume for nature-related activities and topics),²³ reflecting potential gaps in areas such as the promotion or reputation of a destination. Moreover, many countries encounter challenges in translating their cultural and natural heritage into more easily promotable and sought-after attractions. For example, despite their rich cultural and natural heritage, most African economies score below average in the relevant pillars and account for less than 10% of UNESCO sites. This can be attributed in part to political factors, alongside historical deficiencies in expertise, capacity and resources for site identification, nomination and maintenance.²⁴

Nevertheless, there exists a clear opportunity for developing economies to use their tourism resource potential as a catalyst for broader economic development, provided they address existing gaps and invest in sustainable tourism practices.

Encouragingly, since 2019, there has been broad and notable growth in Cultural (+7.7%) and Natural (+4.0%) Resource average scores in the TTDI, attributed to increased investment and protection of tourism-generating assets. This includes an 11.3% rise in total UNESCO World Heritage sites and a 41% increase in oral and intangible cultural expressions among ranked countries. Moreover, over 40% of countries expanded their protected territories by 5% or more since 2019 by establishing national parks and reserves.

The pandemic also saw sustained demand for nature-based travel, evidenced by a 20.3% increase in Digital Demand for nature activities compared to 2019. However, business travel recovery lags behind leisure travel post-pandemic, reflected in below-average scores for Non-Leisure Resources (-2.7%). Nonetheless, the growth in “bleisure” (i.e. business-leisure) travel and digital nomads has created new opportunities for businesses and destinations that can offer favourable conditions for business travel and leisure activities.²⁵ In particular, economies that combine strong ICT infrastructure and healthcare standards, relatively reasonable cost of living, favourable visa policies and rich tourism attractions rank among the most attractive for digital nomads, with Spain, Argentina, Romania, the United Arab Emirates, Croatia and Portugal ranking among the top for attractiveness for this new market.26

Sustainability is an increasingly important element of sector development. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Tourism define sustainable tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities”.²⁷ A destination can maximize its long-term competitiveness and development potential by effectively managing these factors. The TTDI’s T&T Sustainability dimension pillars measure the general environmental conditions and sector energy sustainability (Environmental Sustainability), the economic and social impact of T&T (T&T Socioeconomic Impact) and demand trends that may pressure destinations’ carrying capacity and negatively affect local communities (T&T Demand Sustainability).

Figure 12: TTDI T&T Sustainability dimension pillar average score performance

Since the 2019 edition of the TTDI, average Environmental Sustainability pillar scores increased (+2.7%), notably in T&T Energy Sustainability (+4.6%), attributed to headway being made in general renewable energy and efficiency policies and related investments, which coincided with improvements in T&T sector greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity and use of low-carbon energy (i.e. solar, wind and nuclear). However, some of these gains may be reversed as the continued recovery in fossil fuel-dependent activities such as aviation carries on and expands.²⁸ In addition, despite progress in the expansion of territory under protection and other policies that helped boost scores for the Preservation of Nature subpillar since 2019 (+3.3%), near-stagnant results for the Pollution and Environmental Conditions subpillar (+0.5%) signal limited headway being made in addressing challenges such as air pollution reduction, deforestation mitigation and safeguarding endangered species. Tackling these issues will be especially important for T&T in regions such as Asia-Pacific, the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa, which are rich in natural resources but also underperform in areas such as the preservation of nature and have higher rates of deforestation and pollution.

Moreover, as global travel has resumed, historical demand sustainability challenges have started to resurface, reflecting the sector’s difficulty in managing visitor flows in a way that spreads the benefits of T&T more evenly among communities and seasons and reduces capacity pressure at popular destinations. While average scores for the T&T Demand Sustainability pillar improved between 2019 and 2021, they dropped by 4.7% between 2021 and 2024, as demand flows moved back towards their pre-pandemic mean. Aspects of demand sustainability measured by the pillar, such as seasonality of arrivals, began to fluctuate, and Tripadvisor pageviews have, on average, become concentrated on a country’s most popular natural and cultural attractions since 2021.

In particular, short lengths of stay, high seasonality and overcrowding have historically been challenging issues for Europe’s leading destinations, with 36 of the region’s 44 ranked economies scoring below average for this pillar in 2024. Nevertheless, demand sustainability challenges are not limited to any one type of economy or region and are typically local in nature, depending on factors such as destination infrastructure and overall carrying capacity. In recent years, various destinations have implemented polices to combat overcrowding such as tourist taxes, creating reservation systems for entering vulnerable sites and limiting access to destinations on certain days.²⁹

Figure 13: Snapshot of T&T’s socioeconomic impact

The TTDI’s new T&T Socioeconomic Impact pillar also reveals the nuanced economic and social effects. Most economies witnessed growth in the share of high-wage T&T jobs³⁰ and notable increases in induced and indirect jobs and GDP, especially in low to lower-middle-income countries.

As Figure 13 shows, developing economies demonstrate above-average scores in many aspects of socioeconomic impact, indicating the sector’s pivotal role in emerging market growth. This is particularly true in employment, where, on average, 33.2% of T&T jobs in index-ranked low to upper-middle-income economies are in high-wage segments, compared to 19.5% in high-income economies. However, this also indicates the lack of more value-added sectors that may command higher wages, while informal labour, workers’ rights issues and limited social safety nets (as reflected in previously mentioned lower marks for the Labour Market Resilience and Equality pillar scores) are common economy-wide challenges that need to be addressed in many developing countries and, as a result, within the tourism industry itself. In part, this challenge is reflected in the lower T&T gender parity scores in regions such as the Middle East and North Africa (-36.4% below TTDI mean) and South Asia (-41.3% below TTDI mean), reducing T&T companies’ access to human capital and the sector’s ability to distribute socioeconomic benefits to more people.

Meanwhile, relatively lower wages in advanced economies often mean that policy-makers and T&T business leaders are typically under greater pressure to increase pay and develop strategies to make the sector relatively more attractive for employees to prevent issues such as the current labour shortages. While the recent increase in sector wages has helped contribute to climbing operation costs, it has also helped partially bridge the T&T sector’s historically low wages in countries such as the United States.³¹ Lastly, as the multiplier indicator data in Figure 13 shows, the number of indirect and induced employment and GDP generated by T&T is relatively close among the different types of country income levels. In general, factors such as capital investment, size of the domestic supply chain, economic leakages and linkages, and composition of T&T segments play important roles in determining T&T economic multiplier effect.

The aforementioned T&T Sustainability dimension results and trends highlight the difficulty T&T stakeholders face in growing the sector, while simultaneously ensuring it has a positive economic, social and environmental impact. Sector decision-makers have to take a careful, long-term strategic perspective in development planning, weighing up what policies and trade-offs provide the best balance of growth and sustainability for their unique destinations. As discussed in the previous sections of the report, the fact that some destination organizations are moving towards a quality-over-quantity approach is promising.