World's Best Ranked Tourism Industries

As a property investor, one of your concerns when choosing the right country to invest in should be its ability to provide a conducive environment from which to generate profits in the future.  A major consideration is often the country’s tourism industry.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently released its 2008 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report. Why should this report matter to you, the individual who wants to see positive cash flow returns from your property investment? Because it measures the success of tourism industries in countries around the world, putting a special emphasis on economic development and environmental sustainability. Tourists equal demand for holiday rentals; therefore, a healthy tourism environment equals higher returns from your holiday rentals.

The WEF ranks over 130 countries worldwide in an overall index, taking the average from the three sub-index categories to form an “Overall Index”:

    * Travel and Tourism Regulatory Framework
    * Travel and Tourism Business Environment and Infrastructure
    * Travel and Tourism Human, Cultural, and Natural Resources

The winners of the Overall Index may come as a surprise to more than a few: The top three countries here are Switzerland, Austria and Germany. These European kings are swiftly followed by destinations that may seem more familiar to us all: Australia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

However, the Overall Index proves to be more involved when you look at it in depth. Yes, travel and tourism in Australia and Spain rank amongst the Top 5 most competitive countries, but if your concern is the Regulatory Framework category, try somewhere else as Australia ranks 30th and Spain 28th.  However, both nations perform outstandingly well in the category of Human, Cultural and Natural Resources rankings, coming in at 1st and 4th accordingly.

Other countries that we see coming out on top are Sweden, Canada and Iceland, surprisingly defeating tourism veterans such as Italy or Barbados.

Should we compare WEF’s 2008 report to the “Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2008”, published by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), we see some interesting coincidences: the report lists the “Top 10 European Investment Prospects”, amongst which we find many German cities: Hamburg (3rd ) , Munich (4th ), Frankfurt (7th ) and Berlin (9th ).

Likewise, other countries listed in the top 10 WEF Competitiveness Index report such as Sweden or France also find their cities listed as ideal investments by the ULI and PwC, for example Paris (5th), Lyon (6th) and Stockholm (8th).

Sara Romera, analyst at Propertyshowrooms.com, explains: “Spain continues to be the country that generates most interest amongst users. So far, in the first quarter of 2008, we have seen over 60,000 unique visitors viewing our Spain pages. With the many benefits the country continues to provide the property investor, it doesn’t surprise me to see it rank so well in the WEF Competitiveness Index.”
The Results:

Top 10 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2008 – World Economic Forum (WEF):

1. Switzerland
2. Austria
3. Germany
4. Australia
5. Spain
6. United Kingdom
7. United States
8. Sweden
9. Canada
10. France


Top 10 European investment prospects - Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2008 - the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC):

1. Moscow
2. Istanbul
3. Hamburg
4. Munich
5. Paris
6. Lyon
7. Frankfurt
8. Stockholm
9. Berlin
10. Helsinkipropertyshowrooms.com