Hanoi. The country has thus moved up four places compared to the last ranking in 2017. However, other countries in the region, such as Thailand 31 (+3), Indonesia 40 (+2), the Philippines 75 (+5) and Cambodia 98 (+3), also improved their position.

In order to support Vietnam in creating a national tourism competitiveness index (VTCI), Kai Partale was commissioned by Aecom to develop the methodology and criteria and to test them in five Vietnamese destinations as part of an EU-funded project.

The idea of the VTCI is multifaceted and aims to improve Vietnam's position in the WEF ranking, to support the authorities and the tourism industry with an adapted system for monitoring competitiveness, to provide the Vietnamese tourism sector with a tool to comply with the WEF-TTCI criteria and to enable Vietnam's destinations to strengthen local competitiveness and focus on the identified problems.

With the support of the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB), personal meetings were held with the national tourism administration, the tourism associations, the Institute for Tourism Development and Research, the Tourism Information Technology Centre, TAB members and individual tourism enterprises to determine the criteria and the instrument of the VTCI.

The results were presented at the 2nd International Travel and Tourism Summit 2019 in Hanoi, a platform for public-private dialogue to promote the sustainable development of tourism in Vietnam and increase the competitiveness of the industry.

Information in Vietnamese: baodautu.vn/longform-chuyen-gia-kai-partale-dau-tu-ha-tang-chat-luong-de-du-lich-tang-toc-m114353.html