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Malaysia Maintains Top Spot in the MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2016

Kuala Lumpur, 23 March 2016 – Malaysia has maintained its position as the world’s most popular destination in the global Muslim travel market, according to the most comprehensive research released on the sector. The MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2016, which now covers 130 destinations, expanded from 100 destinations previously, saw Malaysia keep its top spot on the list of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations and overall ranking, for the second year running. The UAE moved up to second place, followed by Turkey, in third place, while Indonesia climbed up two places to take the fourth spot. Bahrain became the biggest mover, jumping four spots to take the 10th position. Singapore also retained its pole position for the non-OIC […]

Kuala Lumpur, 23 March 2016 – Malaysia has maintained its position as the world’s most popular destination in the global Muslim travel market, according to the most comprehensive research released on the sector. The MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2016, which now covers 130 destinations, expanded from 100 destinations previously, saw Malaysia keep its top spot on the list of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations and overall ranking, for the second year running. The UAE moved up to second place, followed by Turkey, in third place, while Indonesia climbed up two places to take the fourth spot. Bahrain became the biggest mover, jumping four spots to take the 10th position. Singapore also retained its pole position for the non-OIC […]

By Gaya Travel on March 29, 20163 minutes read

Kuala Lumpur, 23 March 2016 – Malaysia has maintained its position as the world’s most popular destination in the global Muslim travel market, according to the most comprehensive research released on the sector.

The MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2016, which now covers 130 destinations, expanded from 100 destinations previously, saw Malaysia keep its top spot on the list of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations and overall ranking, for the second year running.

The UAE moved up to second place, followed by Turkey, in third place, while Indonesia climbed up two places to take the fourth spot. Bahrain became the biggest mover, jumping four spots to take the 10^th position.

Singapore also retained its pole position for the non-OIC destinations, with Thailand, the UK, South Africa and Hong Kong making up the top five.

The study also revealed that in 2015, there were an estimated 117 million Muslim visitor arrivals globally, representing close to 10 percent of the entire travel market. This is forecasted to grow to 168 million visitors by 2020 equal to 11 percent of the market segment with a market value projected to exceed US$200 billion.

Asia and Europe were also revealed as the two leading regions in the world for attracting Muslim visitors – accounting for 87 percent of the entire market.

“The MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2016 has now become the number one tool for destinations around the world to realign their strategies to reach out to the Muslim consumer. One of the biggest trends we are seeing is non-OIC destinations making a concerted effort to attract the Muslim tourist and they now represent over 63 percent of the destinations covered in the GMTI. For example, Japan and Philippines have taken some major steps over the last few months to diversify their visitor arrivals and boost their economy in the process,” said Fazal Bahardeen, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CrescentRating & HalalTrip.

The GMTI 2016 is the most comprehensive research available on one of the fastest-growing tourism sectors in the world, which represents 10 percent of the entire travel economy.

The GMTI looks at in-depth data covering 130 destinations. This is the first time such thorough insights have been provided on one of the world’s fastest-growing tourism sectors.

The Index helps destinations, travel services and investors to track the health and growth of this travel segment while benchmarking their individual progress in reaching out to this growing market. 

All 130 destinations in the GMTI were scored against a backdrop of criteria that included suitability as a family holiday destination, the level of services and facilities it provides, accommodation options, marketing initiatives as well as visitor arrivals.

Each criteria was then weighted to make up the overall index score. This year, two new criteria – air connectivity and visa restrictions – were added to further enhance the Index.

Taiwan and Japan have continued to improve its overall ranking with the average GMTI scores by region showing Asia as the leading region.

The overall average GMTI score for score for the complete 130 destinations currently stands at 43.7. From a regional perspective, Asia Pacific destinations lead with an average GMTI score of 56.5.

The top 10 OIC destinations in the GMTI 2016

The top 10 non-OIC destinations in the GMTI 2016