Jeddah, (IINA) : Crescent Rating, a Singapore-based authority on halal travel, has recently collaborated with MasterCard to release the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2017.
The index covers 130 destinations and compares suitability as a family holiday destination, the level of services and facilities it provides, accommodation options, marketing initiatives, air connectivity and visitor arrivals.
According to Crescent Rating, the Muslim travel market is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world, with significant contributions to the industry.
It attributed the growth of the Muslim travel market to the increase of young Muslim travelers.
According to the report, there were 121 million international Muslim travelers in 2016, and it expected the number to reach 156 million by 2020. It also projected that Muslim travelers’ expenditure would reach $220 billion by 2020 as well.
The GMTI said that expenditure growth in the Muslim travel market is driving by access to travel info, having Muslim-friendly amenities, the growth of the middle class, as well as the increase in Muslim millennials seeking authentic experiences.
The goal of the MasterCard CrescentRating GMTI is to enable countries to better cater to Muslim travelers globally by concentrating more efforts towards halal tourism.
The GMTI has an 11 criteria list when evaluating countries, which are: family-friendly activities, Muslims safety, the volume of Muslim visitors, halal food availability, access to mosques, airport facilities, accommodation options, awareness and outreach, ease of communication, air connectivity, and visa requirements.
Malaysia placed first in the GMTI for the third consecutive year, with a mean score of 82.5. It scored a full mark on two criteria; ease of access to mosques, and airport facilities.
The United Arab Emirates came second with a mean score of 76.9. It also scored full marks on ease of access to mosques and airport facilities, moreover, it scored a 100 on air connectivity, but the visa requirements of the country caused it to come second.
Indonesia scored third with a mean score of 72.6. It scored a 17.8 on the volume of Muslim visitors.
Turkey came fourth with a mean score of 72.4. It scored a 37.6 on ease of communication and a 51.5 on accommodation options.
Saudi Arabia is in fifth place with a mean score of 71.4. Scoring full marks on easy access to mosques and airport facilities, a 95 on halal food availability, however, ease of communication, visa requirements, the volume of Muslim, family-friendly activities, as well as awareness and outreach scored 54, 52, 45, 41, and 37 respectively.
Singapore was the only non-OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) country that had a place in the top 10, scoring 10th with a mean score of 67.3.
The top five non-OIC countries were Singapore (67.3) placing 10th globally, Thailand (61.8) placing 18th globally, United Kingdom (60) placing 20th globally, South Africa (53.6) coming 30th, and Hong Kong (53.2) which placed 31st.
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