Turkey, which was ranked 49th in the Travel and Tourism Development Index published in 2019 due to COVID-19, ranked 45th in the 2021 index published this year.
Turkey rose 4 places in the Travel and Tourism Development Index of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, in his evaluation of the increase in the index created in the partnership of international tourism and travel organizations, stated that the report continues to increase the competitiveness of Turkey in the field of tourism and strives to reach the ultimate goal of high income, competitive and sustainable development in tourism.
The study, which has been prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF) since 2007 by organizations such as the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), was named as Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index between 2007-2019. Reminding that it is published every two years, Minister Ersoy said:
“The index, which was published as the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index until 2019, was terminated in 2020 due to the global coronavirus epidemic. The World Economic Forum has decided to publish a completely new index study in 2022 with new datasets, sources and a new methodology. In this process, a radical change was made in the index structure and sustainability gained an important share. The results of the index, which was renamed the Travel and Tourism Development Index, were announced on May 24, 2022 in Davos. Accordingly, in the light of the data in the new index, Turkey ranked 49th in 2019 and rose to 45th in the 2021 index.”
“Increase is the result of collaborative work”
Pointing out that the report, in which the index results were announced, listed 117 countries under 17 different titles, and revealed the factors that contribute to the sustainable development of countries through the travel and tourism sector, and therefore their competitiveness, Minister Ersoy continued as follows:
“Between 2020 and 2021, as a result of intensive work carried out with a total of 15 institutions, including the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, under the coordination of the Turkish Tourism Promotion and Development Agency as well as our Ministry, improvement was achieved in 50 of the indicators within the scope of the Travel and Tourism Development Index. While Turkey shows its best grades in the fields of cultural assets, price competitiveness, and air transport infrastructure; Thanks to the increase in the number of UNESCO registered assets and the update in the data, cultural assets ranked 13th in the world rankings.”
“An indicator of Turkey’s efforts to reach its goals”
Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy emphasized that this index, in which they achieved successful results, started to reveal Turkey’s rise in international competition and the positive results of sustainable tourism policies, “This report shows that Turkey continues to increase its competitiveness in the field of tourism and strives to achieve its ultimate goal of high income, competitive and sustainable development in tourism”
Pointing out that Turkey will reach higher levels in international indices, Minister Ersoy said, “I hope Turkey will reach the higher levels it deserves in this and similar international indices very quickly, with its intensive and systematic work.”
Source. Trthaber / Translated by Irem Yildiz