World Economic Forum: Greece Ranks 21st on 2024 Travel & Tourism Index

Greece has moved up five spots in the 2024 World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) ranking 21^st among 119 countries for travel and tourism.

Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024 overall rankings – Top 30 countries. Source: WEF

The TTDI 2024 is the second edition of an index that evolved from the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) series, a flagship index of the World Economic Forum that has been in production since 2007.

According to the TTDI 2024, Greece moved up five spots from 2019 with an overall score of 4.52. Other risers in Southern Europe include Spain ranking 2^nd with 5.18, Italy 9^th with 4.90, and Portugal, ranking 12^th with a score of 4.78. Cyprus dropped to 30^th spot with a score of 4.37.

Greece garnered points for health and hygiene (6.34), tourist services and infrastructure (5.95), ICT readiness (5.85), and air transport infrastructure (5.52).

Its poorest performances were in travel and tourism demand sustainability (3.00), cultural resources (3.01), natural resources (3.03), price competitiveness (3.16), and non-leisure resources (3.33).

Compared to the Southern European average, Greece performed better in environmental sustainability (5.23 compared to 4.94), health and hygiene (6.34 compared to 5.98), and tourist services and infrastructure (5.95 against the average of 5.07).

The country lags behind in business environment (4.47 versus 4.64), security (5.30 over 5.88), price competitiveness (3.16 compared to 3.66), and cultural resources (3.01 over 3.90).

TTDI 2024 scores for Europe. Source: WEF

Topping the biennial index are the US, Spain, Japan, France, and Australia. European countries dominate the Top 10 travel and tourism destinations. Additionally, of the Top 30 scorers, 26 are high-income countries with 19 of those in Europe and seven in Asia Pacific. The 30 best performers accounted for more than three-quarters of travel and tourism industry GDP in 2022.

According to WEF analysts, post-pandemic pent-up demand is expected to drive passenger numbers back up to 2019 levels this year.