Wednesday, May 03, 2017

Dubai: The UAE maintained its position as one of the top destinations for Muslim travel, according to the latest data from the Global Muslim Travel Index.

The UAE was the second best performing destination for the second consecutive year behind Malaysia, which kept the top spot while Indonesia moved up to third place in the overall rankings.

The Mastercard-CrescentRating index, which covers 130 destinations, showed a number of non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations in Asia move up the rankings as a result of their efforts to adapt their services to cater to and attract Muslim travellers.

Singapore retained its pole position for non-OIC destinations, with Thailand, the UK, South Africa, and Hong Kong rounding up the top five. Japan moved up two places to take sixth spot, with Spain entering the top 10 for the first time.

“UAE remains a very attractive destination, and it will be interesting to see whether it will displace Malaysia over the next few years. We are definitely seeing the influence of a new breed of young travellers, millennials and Gen Z who are combining technology with a real desire to explore the world while still adhering to their faith-based needs,” said Fazal Bahardeen, chief executive officer of CrescentRating and HalalTrip.

Younger travellers

He added that destinations such as the UAE will have to embrace and implement new measures to appeal to more Muslim travellers, and that could well allow it to take the top spot from Malaysia.

“These younger travellers want greater choice, unique experiences, and constant connectivity, which can be seen with the growth of other Muslim lifestyle segments such as Halal food and modest fashion which link perfectly with the travel market,” Bahardeen said.

The Muslim travel market is expected to continue to grow at a fast pace, with the sector projected to be worth $220 billion (Dh807.4 billion) by 2020. It is expected to grow a further $80 billion to be worth $300 billion by 2026.

According to the research, in 2016, there were an estimated 121 million Muslim visitor arrivals globally, up from 117 million in 2015. This figure is forecasted to grow to 156 million visitors by 2020, representing 10 per cent of the travel segment.

And with an overall expenditure of around $155 billion in 2016, the Muslim travel market remains a strong driver for the continued growth in travel across the world.

Asia has remained the leading region in the world in terms of attractiveness to Muslim tourists, with Africa in second place, followed by Oceania, Europe, and the Americas.

Staff Report

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