An absolute reference point for Tourism & Recreation does not exist, because it is not possible to determine how much tourism or recreation any country should have – marine related or otherwise.

Since the ability to provide tourism and recreational opportunities differs in each country, scores for this goal measure the number of international tourists arriving, the number of days they stay, and the degree to which the local governance and economy facilitate the development of tourist and recreational opportunities. These measures are compared against all countries globally.

The distribution of score values was skewed by a few very high scores for countries with high rates of tourism relative to their population size. These scores would not be an appropriate reference point for other countries, since geographic and other reasons would prevent them from reaching such a target.

Therefore, the reference point is set at the value for the 90th percentile country, which was about 25% of the maximum score achieved by those top countries. Sustainability is measured both by considering the number of tourist-days to the country’s total population and by using data from the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitive Index (TTCI), which includes numerous indicators on human, cultural and natural resources as well as infrastructure, health, hygiene and safety, among others.

These factors influence the intensity of social and environmental pressures and ability to maintain tourism and recreation opportunities. The goal scores higher when a country’s tourist-days are high compared to other nations, when the density of tourists is the same or more than the local population, and when TTCI scores are high.

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