Malaysia retains its position as the number one destination in the global Muslim travel market  for the eight consecutive year, says the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2018.

The Index which covers 130 destinations, saw  Indonesia built on its year-on-year growth by moving up to joint second with the United Arab Emirates in the overall rankings. 

The leading annual research on the sector said rivals are looking to close the gap fast and reveals that a number of non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations in Asia moved up the rankings

Singapore retained its pole position for the non-OIC destination markets, ahead of Thailand and the United Kingdom while Japan and Taiwan surged into the top five for the first time since the GMTI was released.  

Malaysia scored an Index score of 80.6, followed by UAE and Indonesia at 72.8 and in comparison, Singapore which was the highest scoring non-OIC destination, scored 66.2, whereas Taiwan and Japan have continued to improve their overall ranking with the average GMTI scores by region contributing to Asia as the leading region in the world for attracting Muslim visitors followed by Europe. 

“We are now starting to see the impact of investment and commitment by destinations across the world into the Muslim travel market which is reaping rewards including a real shift in the rankings.

“The concerted efforts of destinations such as Indonesia, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan using data and insights from the previous GMTI reports have to be commended as they are now closing the gap,” said CrescentRating and HalalTrip chief executive officer, Fazal Bahardeen.

He said this year they have revamped the Index criteria to better reflect the growth strategies implemented by destinations to welcome the Muslim travelers resulting in positive movement across the Index. 

“We have also released the ‘CrescentRating Growth & Innovation Model’ to help destinations practically use this report to strategize growth and innovation for this fast paced travel segment,” added Bahardeen. 

The GMTI 2018 confirmed the Muslim travel market is on course to continue its fast-paced growth to reach US$220 billion in 2020 and it is expected to grow a further US$80 billion to hit US$300 billion by 2026. 

In 2017, there were an estimated 131 million Muslim visitor arrivals globally - up from 121 million in 2016 - and this is forecasted to grow to 156 million visitors by 2020 representing 10 per cent of the travel segment. 

Mastercard president of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei division, Safdar Khan said the fast growing Muslim travel segment is an opportunity in plain sight but in order to benefit from it, it is crucial to understand the needs and preferences of Muslim travelers and how to adapt and tailor products and services for them

“It has been a pleasure to work with CrescentRating in providing in-depth insights on the Muslim travel market for related stakeholders in the tourism industry. 

“We believe that the GMTI provides real value to businesses and governments looking to tap into this important and growing market segment and hope that this effort will continue to drive Halal tourism,” he said. 

It is estimated the ASEAN region will welcome over 18 million Muslim visitor arrivals by 2020, representing close to 15 per cent of the visitor arrivals to the region.

“Based on the index, Malaysia continues to reinforce its status as the leading halal destination in the world. 

“This is reflective based on numerous initiatives taken by industry players to integrate more Muslim-friendly services and facilities as part of Malaysia’s travel and tourism offerings. 

“As the size of the Muslim travel market evolves upward, so does the economic potential which means Malaysian businesses will need to better understand and analyse the demand as well as develop new propositions in order to stay ahead of the curve,” added Khan.  

Some of these initiatives include the establishment of the Islamic Tourism Centre to facilitate market intelligence, tourism policy development and capacity-building services and an upcoming framework under the Halal Industry Master Plan 2.0 to address industry developments. 

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