Turkey on Friday said it was continuing to boost its competitiveness in tourism, with a key study showing the country advanced in the travel and tourism development index, as the industry shows signs of recovery around the world after being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Turkey ranked 45th in the latest World Economic Forum (WEF) Travel and Tourism Development Index, moving up four spots from the 49th position in 2019.
Ranking 117 economies, the biennial study showed the travel and tourism industry sits on the recovery path after a bounce back from pandemic lows, but stressed the rebound has been uneven and challenges remain.
Unveiled this week, the identifies key factors that are crucial to the development, sustainability and resiliency of travel and tourism economies.
The Travel and Tourism Development Index 2021 is a direct evolution of the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, which has been published biennially for the past 15 years.
Elaborating on the study, Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the report showed that Turkey continues to increase its competitiveness in the field of tourism.
Ersoy emphasized that the index revealed Turkey’s rise in international competition and started showing 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 in tourism, namely high income and competitive and sustainable development goals,” the minister added.
Ersoy said Turkey had registered improvement in 50 of the indicators measured as part of the study. Best scores were recorded in cultural resources, price competitiveness and air transport infrastructure areas.
“Thanks to the increase in the number of UNESCO registered assets and the update in the data, Turkey ranked 13th in the cultural assets world ranking,” the minister added.
Turkey saw the number of…