Among 141 countries, Armenia ranks 89th in “The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2015” published by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Armenia went down ten positions as compared with 2013.

WEF partner in Armenia Economy and Values (EV) Research Center noted that Spain, France and Germany top the list of most competitive countries in tourism sector.

According to the report, Armenia’s position has deteriorated by six spots in enabling environment indicator and it ranks 57th. The situation in Armenia is favorable in terms of sanitation and health and hygiene as well as in terms of safety and security, however, Armenia has registered relatively low indices in IT and business environment.

Effect of taxation on incentives to invest (104th), extent of market dominance (93rd), primary education enrolment rate (119th), extent of staff training (118th) and ease of finding skilled employees (112nd) have had adverse impact on Armenia. Armenia has significantly improved its positions in access to improved drinking water (from 52nd to 1st) and in number of days to start a business (from 33rd to 8th).

Armenia ranks 95th in T&T Policy and Enabling Conditions. Stringency of environmental regulations and enforcement of environmental regulations (111st and 122nd, respectively), effectiveness of marketing to attract tourists (117th), environmental sustainability of T&T development (111st) and ticket taxes, airport charges (126th) have had adverse effect on Armenia’s position.

There has been certain improvement in comprehensiveness of T&T data (from 59th to 49th), purchasing power parity (from 47th to 41st) and fuel price levels (from 57th to 48th).

The air transport infrastructure has slid from the 85th to 92nd. This deterioration is accounted by departures per 1,000 people (from 74th to 119th).

Armenia also lags behind in ground and port infrastructure, particularly in quality of roads, quality of railroad infrastructure and quality of port infrastructure (80th, 67th and 132nd, respectively).

The tourist service infrastructure (from 80th to 73rd), in particular hotel rooms per 1000 people (from 111st to 32nd) and ATMs accepting Visa cards per million people (from 66th to 46th), has significantly improved.

Armenia’s position in natural resources has dropped from 124th to 136th. A new indicator has been added – natural tourism digital demand in which Armenia ranks considerably low (125th).

It should be noted that Georgia ranks 71st, Azerbaijan 84th and Russia 45th in the report.