Index

In a new study of tourist-friendly countries released Thursday by the World Economic Forum (WEF), European economies dominated the top-10 rankings, with Spain leading the pack, indicating the region was well placed to attract overseas visitors and create tourism jobs.

France took second place, followed by Germany, while the U.K. placed fifth, Italy ranked eighth and Switzerland was tenth.

The Alpine country lost 4 positions referred last survey in 2015. The Swiss index of tourism competitiveness stood at 4.9 on a scale that goes from 1 to 7, while two yeras ago, it was equal to 5 points. Switzerland lost ground (43rd position), especially in the exploitation of natural resources, while it remains the number one in the global ranking relative sustainable environment.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has become the world’s second-richest man adding $1.5 billion to his fortune after Amazon gained $9 billion in market value during trading on Wednesday.

The 53-year-old has a net worth of $75.6 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and surpassed Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet ($75.5 billion) and Inditex fashion group chairman Amancio Ortega ($74.1 billion) for the second spot.

Switzerland ranked 21th in the Tobacco Control Scale report, back from 18th in 2013. The report is published once every three years, the last one, which was referring to 2013, being made available in 2014.

The 2016 Tobacco Control Scale was launched on March 23 at the 7th European Conference on Tobacco or Health (ECToH). It presents the results of the development and implementation of tobacco control policies in 35 European countries, using a tool called Tobacco Control Policy Scale.

Total economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters amounted to $ 175 billion in 2016, almost twice the $ 94 billion seen in 2015, the latest sigma study from the Swiss Re Institute says.

The losses in 2016 – both economic and insured – were the highest since 2012 and reversed the downtrend of the last four years. This was due to a high number of sizable disaster events, including earthquakes, storms, floods and wildfires in 2016, across all regions. Some events struck areas with high insurance penetration, which accounted for the 42% increase in insured losses. That also means that many people in those areas were better equipped to recover from the shock of a disaster, for example with prompt settlement of their insurance claims.

London may be on the cusp of falling down from its post as top financial center of the planet, finds a new report, although rival European cities still lag far behind.

The Z/Yen Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI), released last week, retained London’s top spot but uncovered widespread feelings of uncertainty among financial professionals, especially as concerns over potential fallouts from Brexit continue. The report’s ranking of 88 financial hubs placed London at the top, followed by New York City and three Asian cities: Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

When it comes to achieving affordable, environmentally sustainable and secure energy systems, a group of small economies is quickly accelerating away from the rest of the world. The top 20 performers in the fifth annual Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report 2017 have achieved twice the average increase in their score compared to that of all other countries.
The report, developed in collaboration with Accenture Strategy and launched on Wednesday at the European Commission, ranks 127 countries based on their ability to provide energy across three dimensions of the “energy triangle”. It finds that the highest performers, which are primarily smaller countries and advanced economies, can overcome constraints if supporting policies are in place.

Hurun Report and Wailian Group on Tuesday released the Hurun Immigrant Billionaires List 2017, a ranking of the immigrant billionaires from around the world. The Hurun team of researchers extensively went through the Hurun Global Rich List 2017, pulling out all first generation immigrants, those who reside today in a country different to where they were born and/or brought up. This is the first year of the list and is a sublist of the Hurun Global Rich List 2017 series, released on 7 March. Hoogewerf said, "We believe this to be the first serious attempt to track the immigration status of the world’s billionaires."

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates once again topped the Forbes magazine list of the world’s richest billionaires, while US President Donald Trump slipped more than 200 spots, the magazine said on Monday. Gates, whose wealth is estimated at $86 billion, led the list for the fourth straight year; Gates’s is followed by Warren Buffett, the American magnate, and Berkshire Hathaway chief with an estimated wealth of $75.6 billion.