The Dominican economy is 61% service-based. The services include the tourism industry that provides the economy with US$4.5 billion a year. Nevertheless, according to economist Nassim Jose Alemany, the DR has fallen 14 places in the tourism competiveness chart published by the World Economic Forum. The DR fell from number 72 to number 86 on the list of 140 countries measured by the forum. While tourism is ranked at number 9 in terms of its importance to the government, it is number 139 when it comes to public safety. Ecological factors are also highly questioned due to a failure to apply certain regulations and a series of species on the endangered list and growing. The economist also lists the very high taxes on airline tickets and airport taxes, among the highest in the world, as causes for concern in a fragile economic environment. While the country is very well positioned for business meetings and family tourism, it is certainly counterproductive to continue losing places on the competitiveness charts.