Dar es Salaam. Tanzania has been ranked eighth in the 2019 edition of the travel and tourism competitiveness report which is published by the World economic Forum.

Sub-Saharan Africa outpaces the global average for growth in tourism receipts and arrivals, with the island nation of Mauritius (54th) outscoring last year’s top performer South Africa (61st) to rank as top scorer in the region.

Kenya which is the highest ranked in the region is at number Five, others in the top ten include Seychelles, Namibia in third and fourth respectively.

The list also includes Cape V erde( 6^th), Botswana (7^th), Senegal in ninth and the Top 10 is rounded off by Rwanda.

The report shows that Sub Saharan Africa continues to face difficulties in health and hygiene, overall infrastructure and the effective selling of cultural and business travel.

However,  with such difficulties, there is  great untapped potential for natural tourism in Sub Sahara countries including Tanzania, which can be better utilized with more development and investment.

Some of the region’s greatest improvements came from areas where it traditionally has trailed, including ICT readiness, international openness and price competitiveness.

Lesotho (128th to 124th) had the greatest growth in score since 2017; however, it was the average growth in the economies of Western Africa that generated the most sub regional improvement.

The top 10 TTCI scorers remain the same. Spain is the top performer for the third consecutive report, while the United Kingdom’s slight decline in competitiveness has led to it being overtaken by the United States.

The top 10 are, from highest to lowest score: Spain, France, Germany, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Canada and Switzerland. India (40th to 34th) had the greatest improvement over 2017 among the top 25% of all countries ranked in the report.

Egypt  had the best improvement among countries ranked 36 to 70, Serbia  had the largest improvement for economies ranked 71st to 105th and Bangladesh  was the most improved among the remaining 25 per cent of scorers

The report provides a strategic benchmarking tool for business and governments to develop the tourism and travel sector.