Manama: The UAE has the most attractive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry in the Arab world, according to the first ranking of its kind in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007.

The UAE ranked 18th ahead of well-established tourism destinations Cyprus, Portugal and Greece in the 124-country survey released in Geneva on Thursday by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Tunisia (34), Qatar (36), Jordan (46) and Bahrain (47) completed the top five list of Arab countries.

Worldwide, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Iceland, the United States, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom make up the top ten.

"Our study is not a 'beauty contest', or a statement about the attractiveness of a country. On the contrary, we aim to measure the factors that make it attractive to develop the travel and tourism industry of individual countries," said Jennifer Blanke, Senior Economist of the WEF's Global Competitiveness Network in a statement emailed to Gulf News.

"The top rankings of Switzerland, Austria and Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore demonstrate the importance of supportive business and regulatory frameworks, coupled with world-class transport and tourism infrastructure and a focus on nurturing human and natural resources, for fostering an environment that is attractive for developing the travel and tourism (T&T) sector," she said.

The rankings are based on the first-ever Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) covering 124 countries around the world.

The TTCI uses a combination of data from publicly available sources, international T&T institutions and T&T experts, as well as the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum, together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organisations) in the countries covered by the report.

The survey provides unique data on many qualitative institutional and business environment issues.

For the purposes of the study and this specific report, a number of new questions related to T&T competitiveness were added to the survey on issues such as the quality of destination marketing and the government's prioritisation of the T&T industry.

The TTCI, which measures the factors and policies that make it attractive to develop the T&T sector in different countries, is composed of 13 'pillars' of travel and tourism competitiveness - policy rules and regulations; environmental regulation; safety and security; health and hygiene; prioritisation of travel and tourism; air transport infrastructure; ground transport infrastructure; tourism infrastructure; information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure; price competitiveness; human capital; national tourism perception and natural and cultural resources.