If you’re planning a holiday to an exotic destination, the world is your oyster – as long as you know where to avoid.

The World Economic Forum has analysed the tourism and travel competitiveness of various countries, ranking the very worst places in the world to visit.

And the winner is …

Chad was named the worst country to travel to out of 141 nations based on 2015 figures.

The countries were measured on five key pillars – the business environment; safety and security; health and hygiene; human resources and labour market; and ICT readiness.

Chad was deemed the least competitive in the index with extremely high levels of deprivation across every indicator.

Its environment, health and hygiene, human resources, ICT readiness and infrastructure were all rated in the top five worst – if not the worst.

Sub–Saharan countries averaged the lowest rankings, with Guinea and Angola rounding out the bottom three.

“People feel that these are unsafe destinations and safety is now the No.1 factor which makes people choose where to travel,” University of Sydney senior lecturer for tourism Dr David Beirman told The New Daily.

“I think any place where you have a breakdown in law and order or a breakdown of political stability are places that are well worth avoiding,” Dr Beirman said.

“What goes on is when you have a breakdown in law and order, you have an increase in crime and decline in tourism,” he explained. “Chad has been a country that has had a tremendous amount of civil unrest over the years.”

There were some surprises at the bottom end of the 2015 index.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, sits considerably lower than Dr Beirman’s prediction at 134th in the world.

“I’m very surprised Myanmar ranked that low because I would’ve thought quite a few other countries probably would have had many more serious problems,” he said.

“That’s really surprising, because Myanmar has become a popular tourist destination.

“In recent years, we’ve seen some high-end companies running some beautiful river cruises and Myanmar is going through a major tourism boom.”

What countries should you visit

Malaga province in Spain. Photo: Getty

According to the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, Europe is by far the most prosperous continent in relation to tourism – with six of the top 10 countries to visit.

Spain leads the 2015 index for the first time, with France and Germany second and third respectively.

Spain’s ranking is thanks largely to its surge in visitors with approximately 60.6 million arrivals in 2015, along with a top 10 placement in all factors barring environment (100th).

France continues to attract the most tourists with its combination of rich history and attractions, bringing over 84 million arrivals.