【明報專訊】IN the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report the World Economic Forum has just released, Hong Kong ranks 13th among 141 countries and regions, up two places from the foundation's previous report. Hong Kong's performance is mixed in the subindex groups. It ranks first in "ground and port infrastructure", but 127th in "price competitiveness" - worse than in any other subindex group. The former shows Hong Kong boasts presentable infrastructure facilities, while the latter points to two factors. One is the disadvantage of pegging the Hong Kong dollar to the US dollar. As the US dollar has gone up, Hong Kong is now less competitive price-wise. The other is high operating costs, including rents. This has been a drag on Hong Kong's tourism. Both factors are structural, and there is no eliminating either with any subjective administrative operation.