South Korea's public rail and airport authorities ranked top in terms of international competitiveness in 2011 for the service they offered to users, a government report showed Monday.

The report by the finance ministry showed the country's KTX bullet trains outperformed overseas rivals in timely operations according to data published by International Railway Statistics.

It said the KTX, run by Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL), had an on-time departure and arrival rate of 99.8 percent, beating the

99.2 percent scored by runner-up Taiwan. High-speed trains operated by the Czech Republic and Italy had timely operating rates of more than 90 percent, with the numbers for Finland and France standing at 81.7 percent and 78.2 percent, respectively.

The ministry's findings were based on reviews carried out by private rail experts, accountants and business managers, and also showed the accident rate for the KTX system stood at just 0.07 incidents for every 1 million kilometers of operation.

That was the lowest among the 12 countries compared, with Italy coming in second at 0.073 and Germany ranking third-safest at 0.137.

In addition to the railroad system, the report showed Incheon International Airport Corp. scored first in efficiency as tallied by the Aeronautical Information Service (AIC) last year. That marked the seventh year in a row that the airport, which serves as the main gateway to South Korea, topped the global list.

The findings also said Incheon airport, located on Yeongjong Island west of Seoul, beat Japan's Narita International Airport by having the largest number of passenger transfers. Incheon processed

5.66 million transfer passengers compared to Narita's 5.26 million.

The ministry added that Gimpo International Airport, which generally serves domestic flights and some international routes, ranked first for the second straight year among the 30 medium-size airports surveyed by the AIC.

Medium-sized refers to air terminals that process 15 to 25 million people annually.

In addition, the report showed the country's Korea National Tourism Organization to be making headway in attracting foreign tourists.

It said in 2011, the number of foreign tourist arriving in the country rose 11.8 percent on-year. That growth rate, it said, surpassed those of France, the United States and China.

The Union of International Associations, meanwhile, said South Korea was the sixth-largest host nation for global conventions in 2011, up from eighth place in the previous year.

The ministry in charge of the country's overall economic policies said more efforts will be made to enhance the competitiveness of public companies so they can better serve users and improve the country's service sector infrastructure. (Yonhap News)