Japan top of global tourism index, without any foreign tourists

Japan emerged top of the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index for 2021 despite the country having been off limits to foreign tourists throughout much of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Strong scores in indicators including air transport infrastructure and cultural and non-leisure resources saw Japan top the new-look index for the first time. The United States and Spain ranked second and third, respectively. Aside from the US, the highest 10 ranked countries of the Travel & Tourism Development Index were dominated by those from Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. 

(Quieter times in the precincts of a temple in the city of Kyoto, September 2020.) 

Travel & Tourism Development Index, ranking (top 10):

1) Japan

2) United States

3) Spain

4) France

5) Germany

6) Switzerland

7) Australia

8) United Kingdom

9) Singapore

10) Italy

The 2021 index covered 117 "economies" and is an evolution of the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index, a study which was published biennially over the past 15 years.  

The framework of the current index was updated to reflect the increasing importance of sustainability and resilience to the growth of travel and tourism as the forum looks to measure a country's ability to enable tourism development "which in turn contributes to the development of a country.”

In the infrastructure subindex, Japan ranked fourth for air transport infrastructure and sixth for ground and port infrastructure. However, the country fared less well in tourist service infrastructure - a measure of the provision of key tourism services, including accommodation - for which it ranked 28th.

Another subindex in which Japan was deemed by the forum to have been performing strongly is travel and tourism demand drivers, or reasons for people to travel to and within the country.  Japan ranked third for non-leisure resources - those factors that encourage business travel, among others - fourth for cultural resources and 12th for natural resources. 

Speaking during a press conference for the launch of the index on May 24 at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the forum’s Head of Aviation, Travel and Tourism Lauren Uppink said of Japan that the country is “an excellent example of what we’ve tried to build with this tool.”

“They perform really well in air transport infrastructure, ground transport infrastructure, which allows people to visit a number of destinations around the country,” she said. 

“Our previous edition of the report showed the risk of things like overcrowding, the degradation of natural and cultural resources, and Japan’s ability to disperse tourists and move them around to different destinations for different reasons is part of their success in topping the index.”

The launch of the latest index comes as the world emerges from a pandemic which has had a dramatic impact on the travel and tourism sector, in particular. The forum estimated 62 million jobs have been lost within the sector, accounting for around one in five jobs lost globally over the period of the pandemic. 

In order to measure the sector’s ability to absorb future shocks, the new Travel & Tourism Development Index also included updated indicators related to socio-economic resilience and conditions, for which Japan was also deemed to have been performing well.

“Given the impact of the pandemic and the status of a lot of workers in travel and tourism often being from marginalized groups or from lower economic environments, having good social security nets, having good workers rights, good conditions for supporting those workers in times of crisis, gives (Japan) more ability to really in the long run build a resilient secure sector,” Uppink said. 

Despite topping the index, Japan was found to be some way behind other economies in a number of indicators. In price competitiveness - a measure of how costly it is to travel or invest in a country - Japan ranked 96th. The index also revealed room for improvement in environmental sustainability for which Japan ranked 38th.  

The index will most likely raise eyebrows, however, for ranking Japan at number one in any study related to travel and tourism given criticism of the Japanese government’s strict virus-prevention measures which have seen the country closed to foreign tourists since the early stages of the pandemic.   

The government’s cautious approach to the easing of border controls and a plan to accept overseas tourists only as part of small-scale tours initially seem to have been met by some observers with hope and ridicule in equal measure. 

“The positive image of Japan in the eyes of foreigners is going down the drain with every ridiculous “idea” they have regarding #JapanTravelBan,” one Twitter user posted on the social media platform following news of the country’s top ranking in the index. 

It might come as a surprise to some then to see that in the indicator international openness - a measure of how open a country is to travel, investment and related services - the index ranked Japan at 39th, far from rock bottom and two ahead of fellow G7 member nation, Canada. 

Rather than the here-and-now of tourist numbers in a given country and how much fun they’re having, especially so soon after the pandemic, the latest index appears to be looking to the future, to recovery and to the sustainability of the sector.  

“The new Travel & Tourism Development Index does not measure the level of travel and tourism development that an economy possesses, but the potential drivers of such development,” the report said.

“As the sector slowly recovers, it will be crucial that lessons are learned from recent and current crises and that steps are taken to embed long-term inclusivity, sustainability and resilience into the travel and tourism sector as it faces evolving challenges and risks.”

Japan appears more prepared than most then, to get its travel and tourism industry back on track and to keep it that way.

Now all it needs is the tourists.

What do you think of Japan ranking number one in the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index?  Let us know in the comments.

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