Spain has overtaken the ranking of nations best equipped to welcome visitors in 2019 by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
In the index, France and Germany followed the Mediterranean country, which has been named by the WEF as the most “travel-ready” nation since 2015. Japan and the U.S. completed the top five.
The United Arab Emirates was the most appealing state in the Middle East, while Mauritius was the top state in Africa in 54th location.
The ranking included a total of 140 nations, which the WEF publishes every other year.
The index was collected by evaluating 90 individual country indicators, which fell into categories such as sustainability of the environment, health and sanitation, natural and cultural assets, and global openness.
However, the WEF also advised in its study released on Wednesday that many nations were at a “tipping point” for tourism— meaning gains in visitors threatened to overwhelm or harm the assets that first attracted tourists.
This was especially true for developing countries, the study said, calling for the tourism industry to do more job to assist maintain cultural and natural resources.
One instance was Thailand, the WEF said, where authorities were compelled to close the renowned cove of Maya Bay after an increase in tourism caused comprehensive environmental harm to the region.
