Further to some news report citing  the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2016 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which ranks Thailand’s safety and security in a manner that does not reflect the overall safety situation in the country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to clarify as follows: 

1. The said report, published. by WEF on 4 April 2017, places Thailand’s overall ranking at 34th place among 136 countries, which is an improvement from 35th place in 2015.Thailand’s overall position is third among ASEAN Member States following Singapore (ranked 13th) and Malaysia (ranked 26th). In other areas, Thailand's placement has notably been high, namely; ranking 7th in the conservation of Natural Resources; 16th in the area of Tourist Service Infrastructure; 18th in Price Competitiveness; and 20th in Air Transport Infrastructure. Despite these positive standings, selective use of the ranking in  the Safety and Security pillar was cited in the news reports, thus disregarding the other 13 pillars. Moreover, the information used to rank Thailand is from particular areas that do not accurately reflect the overall situation in Thailand which is safe.

2. Following the publication of the WEF Report in April 2017, representatives of the Permanent Mission of Thailand to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland have met with senior executives of the WEF and the relevant team involved to provide them with the latest information on relevant developments in Thailand and inquire about the methodology of the rankings. During the meeting, representatives of the WEF admitted that some information used was outdated and using questionnaires as a method is susceptible to prejudices and outdated perception, while the actual situation has changed. Following the meeting, WEF is now considering ways to improve the evaluation methodology and rankings in all dimensions of competitiveness by adding statistical data from credible international organizations and reducing the use of data extracted from questionnaires. In this regard, the Permanent Mission of Thailand to the United Nations in Geneva will follow up on the outcomes of the meeting and continue to exchange information and correct any misunderstanding.

3. Moreover, the report is inconsistent with the rankings on Thailand’s Tourism situation published by other organizations such as MasterCard
(Bangkok is ranked 1st in the Global Destination Cities Index 2016), Expat Insider (7th in the Top Expat Destinations) and US News & World Report (26th in
the overall ranking of Best Countries).