Saudi Arabia’s Performance on the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2017 vs 2019 Saudi Arabia

What

Scott Wayne and Manal Kahla were commissioned by the World Bank to conduct a full analysis of Saudi Arabia’s performance on the 2019 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum. They conducted a comparative analysis of the 2017 and 2019 rankings for KSA that focused on those key performance indicators (KPIs) where the country’s performance decreased by at least 50 percent on the 2019 index and/or the country ranked in the lower 25 percent of 140 countries. Other KPIs that were considered potentially serious issues for tourism industry operations and investments are also highlighted.

Methodology:

The team analyzed and compared the four sub-indexes and corresponding indicators, the varying weights and data sources of the below chart, especially in determining priority actions and potential World Bank technical assistance for improvements.

The analysis showed where Ministry of Tourism actions could be taken regarding priority KPIs where the greatest impacts could be achieved in improving KSA’s ranking on the Index. An action plan was provided that specified in more detail the recommended next steps for improving KSA’s ranking on the TTCI.

Note: Due to COVID in 2020-2021, the 2021 edition of the Index was delayed until release in 2022, by which time it had been revised to reflect the new conditions for travel and tourism. See the separate project entry on this site for that work.