In the 2018 Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI), which covers 130 destinations, Malaysia retained its top spot, while Indonesia, benefiting from its year-on-year growth, rose to second place in the general rankings together with the United Emirates Arabic .
The index also shows that many non-Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Asian destinations have risen within the rankings – in consequence of their concerted efforts to adapt their services to serve and attract the Muslim tourism market.
Singapore retained its leading position in non-OIC goal markets, ahead of Thailand and the UK, while Japan and Taiwan entered the highest five for the primary time since GMTI’s publication.
GMTI 2018, officially launched in Jakarta, confirmed that the Muslim tourism market is on course to proceed its rapid growth to achieve USD 220 billion in 2020. It is predicted to grow by one other $80 billion to achieve $300 billion by 2026.
An estimated 131 million Muslims visited the world in 2017 – up from 121 million in 2016 – and this number is predicted to extend to 156 million by 2020, representing 10 percent of the travel segment.
“We are now starting to see the impact of global destination investment and engagement in the Muslim tourism market, which is reaping the rewards, including a real shift in rankings. The collective efforts of destinations such as Indonesia, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan using data and insights from previous GMTI reports are to be commended as they are now closing the gap,” said Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating & HalalTrip.
“We have renewed the Index criteria this year to better reflect the growth strategies that destinations are implementing to welcome Muslim travelers, which has resulted in positive changes to the Index. We have also published the CrescentRating Growth and Innovation Model to help destinations practically use this report to develop a growth and innovation strategy for this fast travel segment,” added Mr. Bahardeen.
Malaysia achieved an Index rating of 80.6, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia at 72.8. In comparison, Singapore, which was the highest-rated non-OIC destination, scored 66.2. Taiwan and Japan proceed to enhance their overall rankings with average GMTI scores across regions, making Asia the world’s leading region for attracting Muslim tourists, followed by Europe.
“It has been a pleasure to collaborate with CrescentRating in providing in-depth information on the Muslim tourism market to related tourism stakeholders. Many already successful destinations around the world are looking to diversify their guest base to maintain the pace of tourist growth in today’s increasingly competitive tourism market. The rapidly growing Muslim travel segment is an opportunity that is visible at first glance, but to take advantage of it, it is necessary to understand the needs and preferences of Muslim travelers and how to tailor and tailor products and services to them. We believe GMTI provides real value to businesses and governments looking to tap into this important and growing market segment, and we hope these efforts will continue to drive halal tourism,” said Safdar Khan, president of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, Mastercard.
It is estimated that by 2020, over 18 million Muslim visitors will arrive within the ASEAN region, which is able to constitute nearly 15% of tourists to the region.
“Our index shows that Indonesia continues to strengthen its position as one of the top halal travel destinations with the support of the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism. They have done a great job in improving Indonesia’s tourism landscape, improving tourism infrastructure and promoting the ‘Brilliant Indonesia’ campaign abroad,” added Safdar Khan.
GMTI is currently an important data based on insightful evaluation, helping destinations, travel services and investors track the health and development of this travel segment, while comparing their individual progress in reaching Muslim travelers.
All 130 destinations included in GMTI2018 have been criteria-rated, and a number of other recent metrics have been added for this yr’s study, including the CrescentRating Growth and Innovation Model.
Key metrics included access including infrastructure; communicating and searching at how destinations promote themselves to their goal audiences; environment and services. Each criterion is then weighted to provide an overall index rating.
Source: Mastercard-Crescentrating GMTI 2018 April 2018 Global Muslim Travel Index 2018
