The UK has dropped out of the top 10 of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index.

The index, which forms part of WEF's annual Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report, is based on covering the tourism sector's performance in 133 countries around the world.

The UK is the only European country to have fallen out of the top 10 after being ranked 11th. Last year, the UK's tourism sector was considered the 6th most competitive.

A spokesperson for the WEF said: "The economic downturn forces a rethink on the UK’s travel and tourism policy by the government and the industry.

"Competition between destinations will heat up, as many customers are managing their travel budgets more tightly.

“New climate change regulation schemes — such as the emissions trading scheme — will put additional costs on destinations that under-invest in a sustainable and climate neutral travel and tourism infrastructure.

“Tourism players will have to address both these trends in parallel: on the one hand attracting increasingly budget sensitive customers by better marketing, and on the other hand rethinking their investment priorities under the emerging new paradigm of sustainable travel and tourism."

The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index uses a combination of data from publicly available sources, international travel and tourism institutions and experts, as well as the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, an annual survey conducted by the WEF together with its network of partner institutes in the countries covered by the report.