The World Economic Forum has published its acclaimed biannual Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report, in which it measures and ranks the competitiveness of 136 economies, comprising of fourteen pillars, one of which is air transport. In the 2017 report, Macedonia was named as having the highest quality airport infrastructure in the former Yugoslavia. Bosnia and Herzegovina was ranked for the first time, while Kosovo was not included in the survey. Two-thirds of the data in the report are provided by international organisations, with the remaining third based on surveys carried out among over 15.000 business executives and business leaders annually in all the economies included in the assessment. The survey represents a unique source of insight into critical aspects of travel and tourism competitiveness. It is important to note that data for this year's report was compiled during 2015 and 2016.
Macedonia ranked 51st in the world for its airport infrastructure, with an average mark of 4.8 (with one being the lowest and seven the highest). It was followed by Slovenia, which took 70th place, Croatia 79th, Montenegro 81st and Serbia 92nd. Bosnia and Herzegovina fell behind in the rankings, taking up the 131st position and an average score of 2.6. Compared to two years ago, only Macedonia and Serbia managed to improve their rankings. Singapore boasted the best airport infrastructure in the world, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Finland. Skopje Airport was recently named Eastern Europe’s ninth best airport in a global annual passenger survey conducted by Skytrax. In both 2013 and 2014 it was also crowned the best airport in Europe handling under two million passengers by Airports Council International (ACI).
According to the World Economic Forum, Croatia had the most available seat kilometres on offer on international services in the former Yugoslavia, based on a 2016 average. It achieved a global rank of 83, followed by Serbia and Montenegro. On the other hand, Macedonia positioned itself as 121st out of 136 economies surveyed. Unsurprisingly, the United States had the most available seat kilometres in the world. Based on the number of aircraft departures per 1.000 people, Montenegro performed best in the former Yugoslav region, ranking 34th in the world, trailed by Slovenia and Croatia. Croatia had the largest number of airlines with scheduled flights originating in the country, positioning itself as 33rd. It was followed by Serbia, while Slovenia fared worst, in 114th place
Overall, Spain was named as the most competitive country in the travel and tourism sector. Croatia was 32nd, Slovenia 41st, Montenegro 72nd, Macedonia 89th, Serbia 95th, and Bosnia and Herzegovina 113th.
