Indonesia has greatly improved in the 2024 edition of World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Development Index with its new ranking being second only to close neighbor Singapore among ASEAN members.

The index measures a set of factors and policies related to how a country develops its travel and tourism sector. These factors include the tourist infrastructure, hygiene conditions, and price competitiveness, among others. The scores range from 1 to 7, with 1 being the worst and 7 being the best outcome.

The freshly launched 2024 index shows that Indonesia placed 22nd out of 119 countries in the overall ranking, making it the second-best ASEAN country. Indonesia posted an overall score of 4.46.

“We have climbed up 10 spots. We are the second-best performer [in Southeast Asia] and our only rival is Singapore,” Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno told a press briefing on Monday.

Top ASEAN performer Singapore scored 4.76, securing the 13th spot in overall rankings -- just behind Portugal. Malaysia is the third-highest ranking ASEAN member at 35th place with an overall score of 4.28. Followed by Thailand (4.12/47th), Vietnam (3.96/59th), and Philippines (3.84/69th). Cambodia is in 86th place with 3.57, while Laos ranked 91st after scoring 3.48. The report does not include ASEAN members Myanmar and Brunei Darussalam.

Sandiaga attributed the improved ranks to the “prioritization of the travel and tourism” pillar, which measures how much the government is actively investing in the sector. Indonesia scored 6.03 for the said pillar, while Singapore got 5.71. According to Sandiaga, Indonesia’s way of prioritizing the sector includes imposing “collective leaves” -- additional day offs declared by the government which usually takes place after a religious holiday, thus enabling people to enjoy longer weekends. Indonesia has also made some tourist hotspots “super priority tourism destinations” as the government seeks to turn them into the new Balis. 

“The government has considered the tourism sector a priority as seen in how we build our tourist destinations and launch policies such as the collective leaves. This is what causes us to have a strong lead versus Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines,” Sandiaga said.

However, Indonesia is performing poorly when it comes to ensuring the health and hygiene conditions of its tourism sector. The archipelagic country got only 3.78 in health and hygiene. Indonesia scored even worse in the tourist services and infrastructure pillar, earning only 1.90 compared to Singapore’s 4.41.

The report shows that Singapore is struggling to keep its prices --including the average hotel room rates-- competitive. Singapore scored a low 2.67 in price competitiveness, while Indonesia earned 5.44 in the same pillar.