This paper examines the impacts of the quality of government on international tourism competitiveness. Quality of government is conceptualized in terms of an absence of corruption, a well-established rule of law and bureaucratic efficiency. Based on the cross-country analysis of the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (World Economic Forum, 2013), the main finding of the study demonstrates that quality of government is positively associated with tourism competitiveness and that this positive effect remains robust across a number of control variables and estimation techniques. The results suggest that public policy for building a successful tourism industry should be nested in the broader project of enhancing the quality of government.