Pakistan ranked as least likable country for tourism

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has been ranked the least competitive country in South Asia when it comes to travel and tourism, according to the Travel and Tourism Competitive Report published by the World Economic Forum on Thursday.

The report placed Pakistan at the bottom of the Asia-Pacific Travel and Tourism (T&T) Competitive Index 2019 rankings. Pakistan ranked 121 this year out of 140 countries against 124 in 2017.

The low ranking indicated that Pakistan needed improvement to tourist service infrastructure, as well as international openness, safety, and security, better health, and hygiene, among other things, to move up in the World Economic Forum index.

The report emphasised that Pakistan still required a substantial improvement in competitiveness to move up in rank and out of the bottom quartile.

According to reports, Pakistan is the most improved country in terms of human resources and labour market, whereas Singapore was the top scorer in this area.

Japan remains the most competitive travel and tourism economy of Asia, ranking fourth globally, recently witnessing a boom in international tourist arrivals and receipts.

China is by far the largest travel and tourism economy in Asia-Pacific and 13th most competitive globally. The Philippines has shown improvement, moving up four places to rank 75 globally.

According to reports, South Asia is the only sub-region in Asia-Pacific to score below the global average for T&T competitiveness. Its strongest advantage relative to the global average comes from its price competitiveness and natural and cultural resources.