Türkiye leads southern Europe as top developing tourism destination

Türkiye has emerged as the best developing country in southern Europe for travel and tourism, according to the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) 2024 report.

The latest index, published on Tuesday by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with the University of Surrey, ranks Türkiye 29th out of 119 countries, up eight places.

With a score of 4.39 percent, it surpassed the global average by 10.6 percent and the European average by 3 percent, positioning itself as one of the best performing countries in both the world and Europe.

With this rise, Türkiye became the leading country in the southern Europe category, which also includes Croatia, Italy, Malta and Spain.

Türkiye also made a notable 14 percent improvement in the travel and tourism prioritisation indicator, jumping 18 places to become the world's second-highest in this metric.

The country also showed substantial progress in air transport infrastructure, rising 10 places to rank 8th globally.

Cultural assets, natural resources

Türkiye maintained its 13th place in the report’s cultural assets indicator and moved up seven spots in non-leisure resources, reaching 16th place.

In the natural resources criterion, Türkiye surged 24 places to rank 32nd.

The WEF updated the index in 2022, changing its name from the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) to the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI), with a stronger emphasis on sustainability.

Price competitiveness, tourist services and infrastructure, safety and security, human resources and labour market, demand sustainability and business environment are reported as indicators where Türkiye has room for improvement.