Destination 2030

Global cities' readiness for sustainable tourism growth

Over the last six months, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and its partner, JLL, have worked in tandem to refresh and refine the original tourism readiness index to address new global issues in competitiveness and sustainability for tourism cities. The report, which will be unveiled at the WTTC Global Tourism Summit in Manila, Philippines on April 20-22 with world leaders in tourism and private business, includes new findings and recommendations for cities looking to sustain and grow Travel and Tourism in a post-pandemic period.

The Index analysed 63 global cities across 75 different indicators and data points to determine key factors for tourism readiness. In effect, marketing and positioning are only one aspect to consider to successfully manage and sustainably grow the Travel and Tourism economies.

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Levels of city readiness

While every destination and their respective goals are different, there are clear commonalities between destinations. On this basis, JLL and WTTC developed a framework defining five city typologies, which showcase the pressures, challenges, and opportunities that destinations face as they endeavour to smartly grow in a sustainable and inclusive way:

Dawning Developers
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These cities tend to have emerging tourism infrastructure, perhaps having placed less emphasis historically on their Travel & Tourism sector. To date, these cities have experienced gradual tourism growth, but have lower levels of concentration. Such destinations often have a clean slate in planning long term tourism development with many opportunities ahead. Ex: New Delhi and Riyadh

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These cities have historically had high growth momentum, supported by an established tourism infrastructure. Destinations within this typology are more likely than ‘Mature Performers’ to have already reached the stage of feeling the pressures of balancing scale and concentration as they continue to benefit from Travel & Tourism. Ex: Amsterdam, London, and Las Vegas

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These cities have strong leisure and/or business travel dynamics and an established tourism infrastructure. As these destinations look to further drive Travel & Tourism growth, they will need to proactively consider potential pressures as well as opportunities for diversification to avoid strains linked to visitor volumes. Ex: Berlin, Miami, and Hong Kong

Aerial view of real estate buildings in a smart city
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These cities have established tourism infrastructure and potential for further Travel & Tourism growth, across both leisure and business segments, whilst balancing scale and concentration. Ex: Auckland and Vancouver

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These cities have experienced growing tourism momentum, enabled by emerging tourism infrastructure. This can provide tremendous opportunities for strategic development. However, some of these cities are characterised by a smaller scale, and should the speed of visitor arrivals outpace scale and capacity, destinations in this category may experience pressures and challenges such as overcrowding. Ex: Dubrovnik and Buenos Aires

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