Türkiye tops southern Europe in tourism development

According to the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) 2024 report published Tuesday by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with the University of Surrey, Türkiye has emerged as the top developing country in southern Europe for travel and tourism.

Türkiye climbs 8 spots in the World Tourism Index. Climbing 8 spots to rank 29th among 119 countries, Türkiye surpassed both the global and European averages with a score of 4.39%, positioning itself as one of the best-performing countries worldwide and in Europe.

Türkiye’s rise in the index also led it to become the leading country in the southern Europe category, surpassing Croatia, Italy, Malta, and Spain.

Significant improvement in travel and tourism prioritization

Furthermore, Türkiye witnessed a significant 14% improvement in the travel and tourism prioritization indicator, elevating it to the world’s second-highest in this metric. Notably, the country made substantial progress in air transport infrastructure, ranking 8th globally after climbing 10 places.

In terms of cultural assets, Türkiye maintained its 13th position, while advancing seven spots in non-leisure resources to reach 16th place. Additionally, Türkiye surged 24 places in the natural resources criterion, now ranking 32nd globally.

The updated index, renamed from the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) to the TTDI in 2022, places a stronger emphasis on sustainability.

Room for improvement

While Türkiye’s performance in various indicators is commendable, there remains room for improvement in price competitiveness, tourist services and infrastructure, safety and security, human resources and labor market, demand sustainability, and business environment, according to the report.