A new report has named the United States as one of the world’s top tourism powerhouses.
The new report of rankings, issued by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), was released ahead of the WTTC’s World Tourism Day Celebration in September.
“World Tourism Day is the global celebration of a sector that contributes 10.4 percent of the world’s GDP and generates 313 million jobs,” WTTC president and CEO Gloria Guevara said in a statement. “WTTC’s new report outlines power and performance rankings which showcase countries that have been most successful in growing their tourism sectors across the board.”
The new report ranked the performance of more than 180 countries and their growth over the past seven years.
The rankings look at countries whose travel and tourism have grown most in absolute terms over the past seven years. In addition to growth, other factors within this period of time to establish these rankings include: contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP, international visitor spend, domestic tourism spend and capital investment in tourism.
China, the USA and India take the top three spots in the new rankings. The top ten countries, in order of rankings, include: China; the United States; India; Mexico; United Kingdom; Spain; Turkey; Canada; and Indonesia. Australia and the United Arab Emirates tied for the tenth spot.
The report also ranked countries in terms of performance and reviewed countries whose travel and tourism have grown more quickly over the last seven years to recognize countries that are maximizing the opportunity of tourism to drive economic development.
The top ten countries in the performance ranking are Myanmar, Iraq, Georgia, Rwanda, Iceland, Nicaragua, Qatar, Congo, Armenia and the Ivory Coast.
“WTTC recognizes countries who have worked strategically to capitalize on the economic benefits of the Travel & Tourism sector and realize opportunities for continued growth,” Guevara said.
“To this end, we invite government, policymakers and industry leaders to share their case studies with us as part of WTTC’s new recognition program which will identify proven methods for success and promote best practice across the globe.”