Most and least tourist-friendly countries named by global body
Want your customers to feel at home when they travel? Send them to Iceland, New Zealand, or Morocco, the friendliest countries in the world.
But you might want to avoid Bolivia, Venezuela, and Russia, which hug the bottom of the list. In the Middle East, Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia also are unwelcoming and so is China.
The World Economic Forum surveyed 140 countries from late 2011 to late 2012, asking, "How welcome are foreign visitors in your country?"
The WEF says the results of its Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013 are designed to "measure the extent to which a country and society are open to tourism and foreign visitors."
Other high-ranking countries include many in the Western world (Ireland, Canada, Austria, the United States), a few of the most popular tourist destinations like Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, and many countries in West Africa.
The report emphasized the importance of travel and tourism to job creation in a relatively stagnant global economy. The industry now accounts for one in 11 jobs in the world.
Here are the top and bottom 10 countries:
Friendliest countries
1. Iceland
2. New Zealand
3. Morocco
4. Macedonia, FYR
5. Austria
6. Senegal
7. Portugal
8. Bosnia and Herzegovina
9. Ireland
10. Burkina Faso
Unfriendliest countries
1. Bolivia
2. Venezuela
3. Russian Federation
4. Kuwait
5. Latvia
6. Iran
7. Pakistan
8. Slovak Republic
9. Bulgaria
10. Mongolia
By Cheryl Rosen
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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