Top Muslim-friendly travel destination

MALAYSIA, Singapore, Thailand and the United Kingdom have been named some of the world’s most Muslim-friendly travel destinations in a new report.

In the Mastercard-Crescentrating Global Muslim Travel Index 2017, Malaysia topped the list as the world’s best overall travel destination for Muslim travellers, a fast-growing travel segment which is projected to grow to 156 million by 2020, up from 121 million in 2016.

In dollar figures, that amounts to US$220 billion (RM924 billion) in 2020, and upwards of US$300 billion (RM1.26 trillion) by 2026.

Malaysia is followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Morocco, Oman, Bahrain and, for the first time, Singapore, in the top 10.

While the overall ranking is predictably dominated by countries that are part of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation ( OIC), Singapore (a non-OIC member) managed to crack the top 10 list and lead a breakout ranking of non-OIC countries.

The OIC serves as a collective voice for Muslim countries around the world.

For the index, analysts looked at four key areas: access, communications, environment and services. Sub-categories within these areas include everything from visa restrictions, familyfriendliness, safety, halal food options, access to prayer places and safety.

The results show that Muslim tourists favour Asian destinations, which received the highest average scores, followed by Africa, Oceania, Europe and the Americas.

Half of the top 10 non-OIC destinations, for instance, is taken up by Asian countries, revealing concerted efforts to attract the Muslim travel market, analysts say. – AFP-Relaxnews