Thailand loses to Malaysia in tourism competitiveness

ACCORDING to the second annual Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008 released recently by the World Economic Forum, Thailand ranks 42nd in the overall index, outranked by her closest Asian competitors Singapore (16th) and Malaysia (32nd).

According to Jennifer Blanke, senior economist of the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Network, the study is not a “beauty contest” on the attractiveness of a country. “Rather, we aim to measure the factors that make it attractive to develop the travel and tourism industry of individual countries.

” The top-ranked countries, she said, “demonstrate the importance of supportive business and regulatory frameworks, coupled with world-class transport and tourism infrastructure and a focus on nurturing human and natural resources.”

One hundred-thirty countries were ranked based on travel and tourism regulatory framework; T&T business environment and infrastructure; and T&T human, cultural and natural resources.

Thailand got relatively high scores in terms of “price competitiveness in the T&T industry” (11th), “affinity for travel and tourism” (20th) since Thais tend to be friendly to foreign visitors; and “natural resources (21st).

It ranked low in terms of “safety and security” (115th) owing to its high number of road traffic accidents and the high business costs of terrorism and “availability of qualified labor” (74th).  

Switzerland, Austria and Germany ranked on the top three, which means they have the most conducive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry.

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MALAYSIA is trying to attract the backpackers into the country and its Tourism Ministry, in pursuance of this bid, has initiated moves to upgrade such facilities as Internet connectivity of budget hotels.

The budget hotels have also been encouraged to promote more adventure packages for this segment of travelers, which is mostly young and tech-savvy.

Tourism Malaysia secretary general Datuk Dr. Victor Wee sees backpackers as constituting an important tourist segment in the future.

Backpackers are usually seen as bringers of economic benefits to small-scale entrepreneurs including street vendors.

They also build up the confidence of community members in dealing with outsiders and vice versa, thus contributing to more international and intercultural understanding at the grassroots level.