I described the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness report in some detail in a recent post so I wont repeat myself here, other than to say that the comprehensive report is based on a vast matrix of indexes relating to the country and it's attitude, investement and approach to tourism.
The cumulation of the report is an overall ranking of the competitiviness of a countries travel and tourism market.
Being competitive must be a number one priority for a country as the sector rebounds from the recent recession and after effects, and the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report for 2011 provides encouragement for many in the Travel & Tourism industry, reporting a generally slow but steady recovery from the economic downturn, with the stronger recovery in emerging economies compensating in part for the still weaker mature markets in Europe and North America.
Over the last two years the Travel & Tourism sector has suffered from a unprecedented series of events: the global economic crisis, climatic disturbances, security incidents, volatile oil prices and strikes, but thanks to the emerging markets the number of arrivals has now climbed back up to their pre-crisis peak level.
Why is the Travel & Tourism sectors important? It now accounts for 9.2% of global Gross Domestic Product, 4.8% of world exports, and 9.2% of world investment.
So if being competitive is a 'must' for a country dependent on it's travel and tourism revenues, or indeed wanting to increase it's travel and toursim revenues, then 'heading in the right direction' up the table must be almost as important. Momentum is everything when it comes to market perceptions and the fickle paying publics loyalty.
In 2009 Spain ranked 6th (out of 133) in the overall rankings, but in 2011 slipped to 8th, and like Australia (9th and 13th) are heading in the wrong direction. Worryingly for both these countries their infrastructure is solid: Spain is ranked 2nd in the world for the richness of its resources with many World Heritage sites, a large number of international fairs and exhibitions, and a significant sports stadium capacity, and 8th in the world for its tourism infrastructure with more hotel room nights sold in 2011 than any other EU country, plenty of ATM's and car rental facilities and an improving air transport infrastructure.
Have
Spain and
Australia got anything in common that could point to this decline? Yes they have: a concern over the availability of qualified labour.
Neither country has invested in developing it's own labour, relying on imported short term resources, and it appears that they are now paying the price as this mobile workforce migrate towards more lucrative (and secure) countries, leaving what jobs there are to the under skilled and under trained locals.
