India Moves Up On WEF's Travel & Tourism Index To 31st Place; Japan On Top

Helped by its highly cost-competitive travel environment and rich cultural resources, India has moved up nine places to 31st rank on a global Travel and Tourism Development Index, topped by Japan.

Japan is followed by the US, Spain, Australia and France in the top five positions on the World Economic Forum index developed in collaboration with Zurich Insurance Group.

While advanced economies continued to dominate the top of the index, some of the strongest momentum is occurring elsewhere, including in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Viet Nam, the Philippines, Turkiye, Mexico and Brazil, the WEF said.

China, India and Mexico also ranked among the top 10 for the number of World Heritage cultural sites.

The report said India combines a highly cost-competitive travel environment with rich cultural resources, abundant natural assets and well-distributed tourism demand.

"Rapid improvements in tourism infrastructure, cultural assets and business travel resources have helped drive one of the largest gains among major tourism economies," it added.

About the key challenges, it said workforce skills, environmental sustainability and the quality of tourism infrastructure remain important constraints, despite recent improvement in visitor services.

Travel and tourism conditions have strengthened across most of the world, but destinations face a growing challenge -- turning record demand into lasting value amid rising costs, geopolitical and climate disruption, workforce shortages and mounting pressure on infrastructure and communities, the WEF said.

The report showed that 101 of 110 ranked economies improved their scores between 2024 and 2026, with the average rising 2.1% -- the fastest pace since 2019.

Gains were driven by increased cultural resources, tourism infrastructure and services, and air connectivity and business travel.

"The latest Travel & Tourism Development Index shows that the enabling conditions for travel and tourism are at their strongest since the pandemic, with 92 per cent of economies improving since 2024," WEF's Head of Experience Economy and Cities Ramya Krishnaswamy said.

"The next chapter is not simply about attracting more visitors, but it is going to be about creating greater value by investing in people, infrastructure and stronger public-private collaboration so tourism delivers lasting benefits for communities, businesses and destinations," she added.

The Index also showed that tourism is facing growing challenges.

Between 2024 and 2026, travel became less affordable in three out of four economies, while tourism investment failed to keep pace with rising demand and labour shortages threatened further growth.

Benefits for local communities also weakened during this period, highlighting that more visitors do not automatically translate into better livelihoods or higher quality jobs, particularly in destinations where tourism is highly seasonal.