**3.2. Indicators of the World Economic Forum**

The other competitiveness model initiative, relatively accepted throughout the world since 2007 [6], is the Global Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) proposed by the WEF. This index appears structured into three sub-indices. Each sub-index is composed of a series of pillars composed of variables, which measure the competitiveness of each of those three blocks.


The indicators result from the combination of hard data from various official data sources, and soft data or "survey data", which come from opinion surveys of executives from leading companies in each country. These data are included in the *Executive Opinion Survey of the World Economic Forum*.

The hard data are rescaled between one and seven, directly or inversely based on the influence that the variable exerts on the competitiveness of the tourism destination, increasing it or reducing it.

The numeration of the rescaling is identical for the surveys. The value of the index is from one to seven, calculated as the arithmetic mean of the three sub-indices, where the value of each of these sub-indices is calculated as the arithmetic mean of each one of the pillars, and these also, as the arithmetic mean of each of the individual variables of which it is composed (a total of 73 variables), all rescaled from one to seven. Among the main disadvantages of this proposal is that it always uses the simple arithmetic mean, which is why all the individual indicators (pillars) take part with the same weighting in the production of the sub-index, and all the subindices with the same weighting in the construction of the index.

In agreement with the latest Global Competitive Report [32], Switzerland takes first place in the ranking of countries with greater tourism competitiveness, followed by Singapore, Finland, Germany and the United States.
