Malaysia came out tops as the world’s friedliest tourist destination for Muslims, according to a survey released yesterday.
Singapore-based Muslim travel specialist Crescentating ranked Malaysia ahead of contenders United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia in its latest annual “halal holiday” survey.
The survey evaluates countries in terms of their attentiveness to the needs of Muslim travelers, including the presence and accessibility of halal restaurants with meat slaughtered to Islamic standards, and the provision of prayer rooms at airports, shopping malls and hotels.
“An increasing number of destinations are now keen on tapping into this segment and adapting their services to take into account the unique faith-based needs of Muslim travelers,” said Crescentrating chief executive Fazal Bahardeen.
Bahardeen said Malaysia’s Islamic Tourism Centre has “continued to educate the industry on how to cater to Muslim travellers.”
“There are now more and more hotel kitchens with halal certification, an increasing number of hotels are also now catering to the specific needs of Muslim travelers,” he added.
One hotel even has separate timings for the use of gym and swimming pools for males and females requiring privacy, he said.
According to Bahardeen, the Muslim travel market was worth and estimated USD140 billion (RM462 billion) last year, accounting for almost 13 per cent of the global total. That figure is expected to rise to USD200 billion (RM660 billion) by 2020.
In this year’s rankings, Japan came in at 40th place, but its score is 10 places higher from its 50th ranking last year – the biggest improvement overal out of all the destinations surveyed.
“Japan has definitely been the most active destination during the last year to focus on this segment of travelers,” Bahardeen told AFP.
“It has launched a number of initiatives — from awareness programs to the local industry to releasing the Muslim travel guide to Japan.”
Some airports and hotels in Japan have also started offering halal food and prayer rooms, he said.
Singapore ranked sixth in the global rankings, making it the only non-Muslim country in the top 10. It is followed by Morocco, Jordan, Qatar and Tunisia.
The four countries which fared worst in the survey were Italy, Belgium, Ireland and Mexico, as they had “not really focused” on the possibilities of the Muslim market, said Bahardeen.
Source: AFP
