UAE’s road, aviation infrastructure rated world’s 2nd and 3rd best

The UAE’s tourism, road and aviation infrastructure is among the best countries in the world. According to the recently-released World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, the UAE has been the rated second best in quality of roads and third in quality of air transport infrastructure worldwide.The quality of port infrastructure and ground transport network were rated 5th and 8th, respectively, best in the world. The UAE has also been investing heavily in infrastructure development projects over the years. According to Business Monitor International, the UAE is currently investing $58 billion (Dh213 billion) on roads and bridges alone, including projects which are currently underway and in the planning stage. This figure - which is more than any other Gulf country - accounts for nearly half of the regional spend on development of basic facilities. The report, prepared by World Economic Forum (WEF), rated UAE first globally in terms of presence of major car rental companies in the country. The UAE also leads the region in overall ranking and was ranked 28th globally. The emirate’s global ranking moved up two places since the last assessment, WEF said. The emirate also got the distinction of being the best in the world in effectiveness of marketing to attract tourists. WEF report said: “Perhaps the most important competitive advantage of UAE travel and tourism competitiveness relates to its world-class international hubs for global air travel. Further, the country has carried out effective marketing and branding campaigns (1st) and has embraced policy rules and regulations that are conducive to the development of the sector (13th).” The report said aviation is critical to the economy of the UAE, with the sector opening foreign markets to UAE exports, lowering long-distance transport costs, and increasing the flexibility of labour supply. Aviation contributes more than 6 per cent to the UAE’s GDP. Emirates 24/7