The World Economic Forum global competitiveness index shows that of the 27 nations in the European Union, 12 are more competitive in 2013 than 2012, while 12 are are less competitive with three unchanged.

CNN: Europe's new threat: Slow decay

Partly because of poor transport, the World Economic Forum's latest travel and tourism competitiveness index ranks Vietnam a lowly 96th out of 130 countries.

ECONOMIST: Tourism could do a lot of good if Vietnam handles it properly