According to the latest issue Competitiveness Index Travel and Tourism prepared biannually by the World Economic Forum, Guatemala went from position 97 in 2013 to position 80 in 2015.

The improvement in the index means that according to the figures and the perception analyzed by stakeholders in the business sector, Guatemala achieved a breakthrough of 17 positions in tourism competitiveness, reversing the decline of 11 steps that had been reported in 2013 and evaluating the performance of the industry in late 2011 and early 2012.

A comparative level, Guatemala obtained a more dynamic countries like Mexico, Peru, Colombia and El Salvador, which experienced an improvement of between 13 and 16 positions overall. This dynamism is greater than other destinations such as Panama, Costa Rica and Chile, which made gains of between three and five positions once.

Among the main developments by components in the Index highlights the international opening, the price competitiveness of the tourism industry showing a good value for money, training of human resources, customer service, business climate, tourism facilitation , communication and information technology, the number of protected areas and recognized species, number of intangible cultural events, among others.

It is important to note that Guatemala has been declared as a mega-diverse country, which will continue to strengthen this positioning to improve in the next measurements.

Within the index some challenges for the country, which are being addressed by the relevant authorities are mentioned.

As for the prioritization of tourism in Guatemala, it is noteworthy that the Tourism Development Master Plan 2015-2025, through which it aims to boost tourism competitiveness in the country with strategic planning and marketing, was launched in March this year by land use planning in tourist function. With the implementation of the Master Plan is projected to continue improving the competitiveness of tourism in Guatemala.