According to a report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with the University of Surrey, Turkiye has become the most developed country in southern Europe in terms of travel and tourism.
According to the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) 2024 report, the country rose eight places to rank 29th out of 119 countries.
With a score of 4.39%, it was 10.6% above the global average and 3% above the European average, establishing itself as one of the best performing countries both globally and in Europe.
This rise makes Turkey the top country in the southern European category, which also includes Croatia, Italy, Malta and Spain.
According to the WEF report, the index measurement improvement showed an increase of 3.1% compared to 2019.
Thus, like several other emerging economies, Turkiye improved its position and emerged in the top quartile of the TTDI.
The report, released for the second time, consists of a series of indicators that show the tourism standards of each country by region.
First introduced in 2022, the TTDI benchmarks and measures a set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable and resilient development of the travel and tourism (T&T) sector, which in turn contributes to national development.
Turkey also showed a significant improvement of 14% in the Travel and Tourism Priority Index, rising 18 places to become second in the world in this index. At the same time, Turkey has made significant progress in its air transport infrastructure, rising 10 places to number 8 in the world.
Turkiye maintained its 13th place in the report's cultural heritage index and rose seven places to reach 16th place in its non-leisure resources index. In terms of natural resources, Turkiye rose 24 places to rank him 32nd.
The WEF updated the index in 2022, changing its name from the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) to the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) to put more emphasis on sustainability.
With the lifting of pandemic-related travel and other restrictions and strong pent-up demand, international tourist arrivals are expected to reach pre-pandemic levels in 2024 and reach 88% of 2019 levels in 2023, according to the report. T&T's contribution to global gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to reach $9.9 trillion, almost reaching pre-pandemic levels.
The Middle East has had the highest rate of recovery in international tourist arrivals (20% above 2019 levels), while Europe, Africa and the Americas are resilient destinations with strong intra-regional travel flows. Both showed strong recovery of approximately 90% in 2023.
Price competitiveness, tourism services and infrastructure, safety and security, human resources and labor market, demand sustainability, and business environment are reported as indicators where Turkey has room for improvement.
