Foreign tourists feel more welcome in Yemen and the UAE than in Australia, report finds. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied
- The least-friendly nations for tourists named
- 140 nations analysed in World Economic Forum report
- Australia beaten by our Kiwi neighbours
FOREIGN tourists feel more welcome in Yemen, Rwanda, the United Arab Emirates and with our Kiwi neighbours than they do in Australia, according to a World Economic Forum report.
The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013 rated 140 countries according to their attractiveness and ability to develop their travel and tourism industries. It used a combination of data from publicly available sources, international travel and tourism institutions and experts.
The report examined the "attitude of a population toward foreign visitors", with a score of one being very unwelcome and seven very welcome. Bolivia was ranked the least tourist-friendly nation in the world, at 140th place it received a score of 4.1.
It was closely followed in the unfriendly stakes by Venezuela, the Russian Federation, Kuwait, Latvia and Iran.
Scroll down for a list and have your say on the world's least welcoming nations
Pakistan, the Slovak Republic, Bulgaria, Mongolia, China, Korea and Saudi Arabia also scored poorly.
Australia ranked better at 27th place with a rating of 6.5, a score equal to that of 15 other nations including Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Zambia, Oman and Lebanon.
However, Yemen, Rwanda, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Malta, Singapore and Ireland all achieved higher scores than Australia.
And tourists wanting the warmest welcoming should head to Iceland or our Kiwi neighbours, with both sitting in the top position with a value of 6.8.
How Australia's tourism industry fared overall
Australia ranked 11th overall for tourism competitiveness – up two spots since the previous study in 2011.
The report praised the nation's protection of its environment, "excellent" air transport infrastructure and advanced visa process.
According to the report: "Australia's travel and tourism competitiveness continues to be characterised by a number of clear strengths, including its rich natural resources and the highest number of World Heritage natural sites in the world, benefiting from diverse fauna and a comparatively pristine natural environment.
"And given the country's distance from other continents and the related importance of domestic air travel to overcome the large distances between major sites, its competitiveness is also buttressed by excellent air transport infrastructure (ranked 4th) as well as good general tourism infrastructure (ranked 20th).
"In terms of visa requirements, Australia has one of the most advanced visa policies in the world (especially with respect to the electronic visa process) at a time when a number of other countries are moving in the opposite direction."
Attitude of population toward foreign visitors
Top 10
1 Iceland 6.8
2 New Zealand 6.8
3 Morocco 6.7
4 Macedonia, FYR 6.7
5 Austria 6.7
6 Senegal 6.7
7 Portugal 6.6
8 Bosnia and Herzegovina 6.6
9 Ireland 6.6
10 Burkina Faso 6.6
Bottom 10
140 Bolivia 4.1
139 Venezuela 4.5
138 Russian Federation 5.0
137 Kuwait 5.2
136 Latvia 5.2
135 Iran, Islamic Rep. 5.2
134 Pakistan 5.3
133 Slovak Republic 5.5
132 Bulgaria 5.5
131 Mongolia 5.5
The dataset includes both survey data from the World Economic Forum's annual Executive Opinion Survey and quantitative data from publicly available sources, international organisations, and tourism institutions and experts (IATA, the IUCN, the UNWTO, WTTC, UNCTAD, and UNESCO). The survey is carried out among chief executive officers and top business leaders in all economies covered by World Economic Forum research.
