Thailand wins favour among Muslim tourists in rankings

Thailand is ranked second among non-OIC markets as the most Muslim-friendly travel destinations, the MasterCard-Crescent Rating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2018 reported.

Malaysia and Singapore have retained their positions as the top ranked destinations in the $220 billion global Muslim travel market as rivals seek to close the gap, according to the annual reach on the sector.

In this year’s GMTI, Thailand improved its ranking by two spots to the 16th position among 130 destinations. 

The improvement can be attributed to the continued efforts by Thailand’s tourism stakeholders in broadening the availability of Halal restaurants and promoting the destination to Muslim travellers.

Among non-Organisation of Islamic corporation (OIC) destinations, Thailand retained its second position behind Singapore, as the most Muslim-friendly destination for travellers. Japan and Taiwan surged into the top five for the first time since the GMTI was released.

The MasterCard-Crescent Rating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2018, which covers 130 destinations, saw Malaysia retain the premier spot in the overall rankings (including both IOC and non-IOC nations) whilst Indonesia’s year on year growth saw it moved up to joint second with the United Arab Emirates. 

A number of Asian destinations improved their rankings, as they adapted their services to attract Muslim travellers. The index highlighted the strong digital presence by most destinations.

The GMTI, which was officially launched in Jakarta in April, confirmed the Muslim travel market would continue its fast-paced growth to reach $220 billion on 2020 and $300 billion by 2026.

In 2017, there were an estimated 131 million Muslim visitor arrivals globally - up from 121 million in 2016. This is forecast to grow to 156 million visitors by 2020, representing 10% of the travel segment. Muslim visitor arrivals in Thailand were estimated to be 3.6 million, approximately 10% of the tourists to Thailand in 2017. 

“We are now starting to see the impact of investment the commitment by destinations across the world into the Muslim travel market, which is reaping rewards including a real shift in the rankings. The concerted efforts of destinations such as Indonesia, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan using data and insights from the previous GMTI reports have to be commended as they are now closing the gap,” said Crescent Rating & HalalTrip CEO Fazal Bahardeen.

“This year, we have revamped the index criteria to better reflect the growth strategies implemented by destinations to welcome strategies implemented by destinations to welcome the Muslim travellers resulting in positive moment across the index. We have also released the Crescent Rating Growth & Innovation Model to help destinations practically use this report to strategize growth and innovation for this fast paced travel segment,” added Bahardeen.

Thailand is catching up to the leaders in attracting Muslim visitors as government initiatives such as the National e-Payment Plan and Standardised QR Code makes traveling safer and more convenient for more diverse international visitors, said MasterCard Country Manager (Thailand and Myanmar) Donald Ong. “Thailand is already ranked second among non-OIC countries as our growing tourism industry taps into this increasingly important market segment,” he added. (The Nation, Bangkok)