140 Countries Ranked on Openness to Foreigners

A warm welcome depends on the place – and the visitor. The World Economic Forum released the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report for 2013, and the Washington Post prepared a GIS map based on data collected from a single-question survey: “How welcome are foreign visitors in your country?” The question may be too broad, vague and subjective, suggests Katka Lapelosa for Matador Network. Welcomes can vary for young or old, rich or poor, those versed in a language or not, visitors on a quick vacation versus researchers on an extended stay. In comparing the survey results against her own travel experiences, Lapelosa finds disparities and missing nations. She points out that a welcome can be such an individual experience, depending on bureaucratic hurdles as well as attitudes and courtesies on any one day or diverse histories and regions in any one country. Measuring hospitality is a work in progress, and the report is a reminder that all citizens are on non-stop duty as informal ambassadors for their respective nations. – YaleGlobal