Keywords

1 Introduction

Latin America is an important and emerging region with a great future. In the last three (3) decades of the twentieth century, important changes have occurred in its urbanization process, which affected the structure of the existing society (Quijano, 1976) [1]. The first thing that stands out are the high urbanization rates, especially when comparing these with growth in other similar regions. By 1989, 67% of the Latin American population lives in cities, compared to 31% in Asia (Zarate, 1989) [2].

Research on Latin America and the Caribbean has revealed the behavior and trends of the countries affected by the various contexts of industrial, economic and political development locally and regionally. The identification of factors, to increase their competitiveness, acquires greater relevance for the design of public policies and improvements in the quality of life of their population (Estrada & Pacheco-Vega 2009) [3] (Zurbriggen 2014) [4] (Vásquez, Torres-Samuel and Viloria 2017) [5]. It stands out for the competitiveness of its industries in various economic sectors. According to (Vidal 2008) [6], eight (8) countries are positioned in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela) led by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Due to its tourist attractions, Latin America is ranked as the third region in the world by the activity of its travel and tourism industry (T&T), according to the latest report published by the 2019 WEF (WEF 2019) [7], lagging only behind the Europe and Asia-Pacific regions.

Since 2007, The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) (WTTC 2020) [8] hand in hand with the WEF (WEF 2020) [9], publish The World Travel & Tourism Report (WTTR), with the approximate positioning of 140 countries of the world according to The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI). This index shows the activity carried out by the T&T Industry in each country and is considered to serve governments and investors in decision-making to increase competitiveness (Domareski and Chim 2019) [10] (Domareski, Chim and Dos Anjos 2019) [11]. According to (Buendía 2013) [12], a nation is competitive if it is able to efficiently use its resources and achieve its productivity and, within this framework, provide a high level of living suitable for its population and respond to its productive sector.

Given the importance of the Latin American region and its countries, this article shows an analysis of the competitiveness of their countries, using WTTR published from 2007 (WEF 2007) [13] to 2019 (WEF 2019) [7].

2 The World Travel and Tourism Report

Since 2007, the WEF together with the WTTC publish the WTTR. Until 2009 annually and subsequently biannually, corresponding to odd years. In WTTR, the position of approximately 140 countries in the world based on the competitiveness of the T&T industry is published. In addition, they publish the TTCI, which is a complex index that is estimated based on subscripts, pillars and indicators that are a reflection of tourism activity. Tables 1 and 2 show a summary of the variables considered for the calculation, for the publications 2009 and 2015, respectively. The number of indicators used for each pillar are indicated in parentheses. The subscripts have the same percentage weight or contribution for the calculation of the TTCI. The indicators are classified as qualitative (survey data) and quantitative (hard data). The qualitative ones are obtained from the executive opinion survey, with responses from the WEF directors and main business leaders. On the other hand, the quantitative ones are taken from recognized and public international bases, such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA 2020) [14], World Tourism Organization (UNWTO 2020) [15], United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCATD 2020) [16], United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO 2020) [17] and WTTC (WTTC 2020) [8], among others.

Table 1. Subindex, pillars and indicators for estimation of TTCI (WEF, 2009) [18]
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Table 2. Subindex, pillars and indicators for estimation of TTCI (WEF, 2015) [19]
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3 Industry T&T de Latin American

As the diversity and variety of measures represented by the TTCI, sub-index, pillars and indicators are rich, its analysis is propitious for the Latin American region during the period 2007 to 2019, both inclusive. During this period, around 20 countries in the region have been positioned in each WTTR. Table 3 shows in the colors yellow, green, blue and orange the countries that positioned themselves globally in quartiles 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Here it can be detailed, that from WTTR 2015 begins to appear in quartile 1, Brazil, Mexico and Panama, with increasingly higher TTCI, demonstrating the progress of the region in relation to competitiveness.

Table 3. Positioning and TTCI of the Latin American countries according to the WTTRs for the period from 2007 to 2019
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Tables 4 and 5 show the clusters that have been formed according to the WTTR 2007 and 2019, respectively. These WTTRs are compared to observe the evolution of the T&T industry in the region during this 13-year period. For the first year, 20 countries were positioned and grouped into three (3) groups. For the WTTR 2019, 21 countries were positioned and there was a grouping of four (4) groups. If we compare both tables, it will be observed that Brazil and Mexico have always been in the highest rankings, and therefore being part of quartile 1 of those positioned worldwide. It is important to observe the progress of Ecuador that manages to scale from group C to B in the reports 2007 and 2019, respectively.

Table 4. Cluster of Latin American countries according to the TTCI published in the WTTR 2007
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Table 5. Cluster of Latin American countries according to the TTCI published in the WTTR 2019
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In addition to the positioning obtained from the countries according to the TTCI, each subindex, pillar or indicator can generate another form of ordering, in this sense Tables 6 and 7 show the relative location of the most and least favorable positioning of the Latin American country according to the maximum global by subindex or pillar according to WTTR 2019

Table 6. Subindex of the 1st global position and the Latin American country with the most and least favorable position
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Table 7. Pillar of the 1st global position and the Latin American country with the most and least favorable position
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Tables 6 and 7 show where the greatest gaps are. According to Table 6, in relation to the subindex, the closest proximity is found in the Conditions and policies in T&T sub-index, between New Zealand and Costa Rica, with a difference of only 0.2 points. On the other hand, the largest gap is found in the Infrastructure sub-index, between two (2) countries in the Americas, the United States and Panama with a difference of 1.5 points. According to Table 7, in the Natural Resources pillar Mexico occupies the first position in the world and in Latin America. Additionally, Malta and Jamaica have the same score of 6.2 for the T&T Prioritization pillar. For the same Table, the largest gap is between China and Brazil in the Cultural Resources and Travel Business pillar, with a difference of 1.6 points.

4 Conclusions

Globally, Latin America ranks third in the competitiveness of its travel and tourism industry, after of Europe and Asia-Pacific, according to the publication of the WTTR 2019. According to the analysis, the region has managed to position around 20 countries according to the activity of this industry in the global reports published during the period from 2007 to 2019 by the WTTC and WEF. For the year 2007, the countries were located only in those in quartiles 2, 3 and 4 of the global position. However, for 2019, 21 countries are positioned, highlighting Mexico and Brazil in Quartile 1 worldwide. By making a more detailed analysis of the subindex in this latest report, an important proximity is observed between New Zealand and Costa Rica in Conditions and policies in T&T. When carrying out this same analysis of the pillars, Mexico ranks first globally and in the region in Natural Resources and Malta and Jamaica have the same score in Prioritization of T&T. On the other hand, there are still some gaps, in the Infrastructure sub-index, there is a difference of 1.5 points between the United States and Panama and in the pillars, China and Brazil with a difference of 1.6 points in Cultural and business resources travel. Finally, it is shown that the region and its countries have managed to position themselves competitively worldwide.