Japan has been named the world's top country for tourism development in the World Economic Forum's 2026 Travel & Tourism Development Index, climbing two places from its 2024 position. The US came second, with Spain third.
The index, first launched in 2007 and produced with Zurich Insurance Group, scores 110 countries across five areas: enabling environment, policy and enabling conditions, infrastructure and services, resources, and sustainability. The WEF credits Japan's rise to its strategies for diversifying both the markets it welcomes visitors from and the destinations it sends them to — a nod to the country's efforts to spread tourists beyond the usual Tokyo-Kyoto corridor. Zurich's chief executive Cara Morton said the result shows how strong foundations and good destination management can turn tourist interest into long-term advantage.
Europe punches hardest overall. Six of the top 10 — Spain, France, Germany, the UK, Switzerland and Italy — are European, making it the best-performing region on the index. Australia and China round out the top tier, both improving faster than the index average. Notably, the top 10 line-up is identical to 2024's; only the order has shuffled.
The bigger picture is a sector back at full throttle. Some 92% of ranked economies improved their scores, with tourism development conditions at their strongest since the pandemic. The WEF counted a record 1.5 billion international arrivals in 2025, up 5% on the previous year.
The star of the improvement charts is Albania — the most improved economy between 2024 and 2026 — while emerging destinations across Asia-Pacific are also gaining ground fast. Travellers watching where to go next could do worse than tracking the index's climbers.
There's a caveat, though. The WEF flags recent shocks — aviation disruption after the escalation of conflict in the Middle East, and heatwaves and wildfires across Europe and North America — as reminders of how quickly travel systems come under strain. The destinations that perform best, it argues, are not just those with great assets, but those able to adapt and keep functioning when things go wrong. For holidaymakers, that's a useful lens: resilience and infrastructure matter as much as beaches and landmarks when a trip hangs in the balance.
For anyone planning 2026 trips, the rankings double as a quality check on the basics — transport, healthcare, sustainability policy — that quietly make or break a holiday.
