KEY POINTS:
New Zealand has become less competitive on a world index of travel and tourism over the past year - dropping five places to 19th out of 130 countries.
In last year's World Economic Forum report on Travel and Tourism Competitiveness New Zealand ranked 14th, just behind Australia.
But
in this year's report, which took a greater focus on environmental sustainability, Australia leapt ahead to fourth while New Zealand fell behind.
New Zealand's position was dragged down by a big ranking drop for ground transport infrastructure which fell from 25th to 50th.
The ranking of our natural and cultural resources also fell from 10th to 28th for natural resources and 33rd for cultural resources.
Under the environmental sustainability category New Zealand ranked last in threatened species and was 95th out of 130 for carbon dioxide emissions.
New Zealand's price competitiveness also ranked poorly for ticket taxes and airport charges at 77, and the rank for purchasing power parity was 103.
However, the country performed well when it came to the cost of starting up a business (ranked 2nd), access to improved sanitation and drinking water (1st), internet users (2nd), quality of natural environment (2nd) and attitude towards foreign visitors (2nd).
Tourism Industry Association chief executive Fiona Luhrs said it was difficult to pinpoint why New Zealand's ranking had dropped especially as the factors analysed had changed between the reports.
However Luhrs said she was pleased to see New Zealand's sustainability for tourism and travel industry development ranked well, as did our quality of natural environment.
"That is brilliant as that is what people come here to see."
But she said New Zealand's rank of 62 for Government spend on tourism was of concern.
"That's a worry to me. We have got the business right - we are just not getting enough money to promote ourselves in a very competitive market," she said.
New Zealand's small size also made it difficult to compete with numbers of world heritage sites and tourism infrastructure such as hotel rooms and major car rental companies.
TOP 10
Travel and tourism competitiveness
1. Switzerland
2. Austria
3. Germany
4. Australia
5. Spain
6. United Kingdom
7. United States
8. Sweden
9. Canada
10. France
19. New Zealand