Competitiveness report puts NZ at 19

130 countries were listed in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008, undertaken by the World Economic Forum’s Tourism Industry Association, and the popular South Pacific destination of New Zealand came in at number 19 on the survey. The tourism Industry Association of New Zealand was very pleased with the results and cited the friendliness of the Kiwis as a big draw for international visitors.

TIA chief executive Fiona Luhrs, said the results were ‘excellent’, though she was aware of areas that the tourism industry could improve, such as price competitiveness, technology infrastructure and ground transport. Luhrs continued, “The tourism industry is well aware of the areas where it could improve its performance and many of these will be addressed as we implement the recommendations of the New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015.”

Switzerland ranked first in the survey, with second place going to Austria. Germany came in third and Australia placed fourth.