tl;dr – Hint – it’s not second, though it’s also not last.
If you guessed India as #1, come on down to claim your prize. According to GlobalData, India ranks first among 60 key tourist markets.
While it’s unclear as to how much weight is afforded to each criterion (I wasn’t dropping $1500 on the report), according to GlobalData’s website, the “Tourism Potential Index is a quantitative measure of the appeal of tourism in a location. It is determined by considering several characteristics such as tourism activity, macroeconomics, infrastructure and development, attractiveness, and risk associated with a destination.”
For sources, “GlobalData’s Tourism Potential Index uses analysis and numerous data sources to provide an aggregated view of the global tourism market.”
That last item – ‘risk associated with a destination’ is interesting. I’d be curious what defines ‘risk’ (crime, health, and natural disaster data from government bureaus) and whether perceived risk also plays a factor. Which brings me to my next point.
The US? It ranks fourth. Behind China and Japan (and India). Ahead of Indonesia, Spain, and, interestingly, Saudi Arabia.
With all that’s been out there about the decline in US tourism, with the political climate being cited as a leading factor to this, I find this interesting since both tourism activity, attractiveness, and again, risk are factors in the assessment.
Thoughts?
