Hong Kong ranks 13th in tourism competitiveness while China jumps 28 places to 17th

Hong Kong climbed two places to 13th in a survey of the competitiveness of the tourism industry in countries around the globe, but the improvement was dampened by a drop in the city's overall price competitiveness.

The survey, released on Wednesday and conducted every two years by the World Economic Forum, placed Hong Kong fourth in the Asia-Pacific region, behind Australia, which ranked seventh globally, Japan, which made ninth, and Singapore at 11th. The city scored 4.68 out of a possible seven points.

The index grades Hong Kong separately from China, which jumped 28 places from 45th in 2013 to 17th last year, with its score moving up from 4.5 to 4.54. China placed sixth in the Asia-Pacific region.

The rankings measure the competitiveness of 141 countries and economies based on 14 criteria, including business environment, travel and tourism policies, readiness of communication networks, infrastructure quality, and natural resources.

Spain tops the table for the first time, with a score of 5.31. France and Germany rank second and third followed by the United States in fourth.

Hong Kong continues to excel in three areas, the report found. It has the best ground and port infrastructure globally, with a score of 6.5, and comes second in terms of business environment and readiness of information and communications technology.

But the city has dropped considerably since 2011 in its ranking for price competitiveness. It came in at 127th, down from 32nd in 2013 and 67th in 2011. The sub-index is measured by looking at factors such as fuel prices, hotel rates, ticket prices and purchasing power parity.