1. About the Travel & Tourism Development Index
The Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) is a direct evolution of the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), which has been published biennially for the past 15 years. The TTDI benchmarks and measures “the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable and resilient development of the Travel and Tourism (T&T) sector, which in turn contributes to the development of a country”.
The transition from TTCI to TTDI reflects the index’s increased coverage of travel and tourism (T&T) development concepts, including the expanding role of sustainability and resilience in T&T growth, and is designed to focus more attention on the sector’s role in broader economic and social development as well as the greater need for T&T stakeholder collaboration and integrated development strategies (local, regional and international) to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, bolster the recovery and deal with future challenges and risks. The TTDI framework and methodology have also been enhanced to reduce index bias and improve flexibility in use. Despite these changes, the TTDI and TTCI remain very close. Earlier editions of the TTCI have always looked at the concept of “competitiveness” as a means of developing the T&T sector and thus measured elements that enabled such development. In this context, It is also important to point out that the new TTDI does not measure the level of T&T development that an economy possesses, but the potential drivers of such development.
The development of the TTDI was pursued following the publication of the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019: Travel and Tourism at a Tipping Point, which considered the challenges linked to tourism development and growth such as overcrowding, unbalanced distribution of T&T economic benefits and damage to tourism-generating natural and cultural assets that ultimately diminished liveability for residents, created a local backlash against T&T development and harmed visitor experiences. Since the publication of the 2019 TTCI, the impact of COVID-19 and now geopolitical disruptions have further demonstrated the potential volatility of the sector and the need to reassess how it embeds resilience into its design and management practices.
In order to ensure a productive and long-standing recovery, the sector must incorporate lessons learned from current crises and ensure better preparedness for future headwinds, many of which can be historic and long term in nature and impact. The new TTDI framework is designed to support this pivot in strategy and practice.
The TTDI framework has been created with input from T&T stakeholders, including an advisory group that includes representatives from: Bloom Consulting, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the University of Surrey, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). In addition, the index relies on close collaboration with the following data partners: AirDNA, Bloom Consulting, Euromonitor International, GlobalPetrolPrices.com, IATA, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), STR, Tripadvisor, the UNWTO and the WTTC.
Please note that while the TTDI is an update of the TTCI, due to the altered methodology, framework and other differences, the 2021 TTDI should not be compared to the 2019 TTCI. To help address this, the 2019 results were recalculated using the new framework, methodology and indicators of the TTDI. Therefore, all comparisons in score and rank throughout this publication are between the 2019 results and the 2021 results of the TTDI.
For more detailed information on the TTDI methodology and new framework, country peer and income group classification, indicator details, partner information and to explore the index results through interactive data visualizations, please visit the index website.