Bangladesh lags behind neighbours India (65th), Sri Lanka (79th), Pakistan (103rd) and Nepal (106th), according to the report released on the WEF website on Thursday.

The rankings are based on the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index covering 124 countries around the world.

The report said travel and tourism is currently one of the world's largest economic activities. It is the leading industry in many countries, as well as the fastest growing economic sector in terms of job creation worldwide.

In 2006, the sector generated 10.3 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP), providing 234 million jobs, or 8.2 percent of total world employment.

According to the report, Switzerland, Austria and Germany have the most attractive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry. Iceland, the United States, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom complete the top ten list. Chad ranked the last position.

The report said successfully building a highly competitive travel and tourism sector requires several evolutionary steps. Governments must first make sure the appropriate infrastructure capacity is in place to provide access for domestic and international travelers; preferably by leveraging private capital early in the process through such strategies as public-private partnerships, it added.

"And both public regulators and private investors need to ensure that they jointly manage such partnerships efficiently, by focusing on the demand characteristics of their markets," the report suggested.