GCC to welcome more Muslim travellers during Ramadan by 2023

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Thursday, Jun 16, 2016

Dubai: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, such as Oman and the UAE, are expected to see more Muslim travellers during Ramadan by 2023, according to a new report from MasterCard and CrescentRating, an authority on halal travel.

With Ramadan set to take place in cooler months from 2023, destinations in the GCC will become an attractive proposition for Muslim travellers, according to the first MasterCard-CrescentRating Ramadan Travel Report 2016. Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia could also benefit from this trend, it stated, adding that Malaysia remains the top ranked destination for most of the years until 2026.

“Muslims travelling in Ramadan is becoming a reality and one which can benefit countries, through strategic destination marketing and planning by the tourism authorities,” Fazal Bahardeen, chief executive of CrescentRating & HalalTrip, said in a statement.

“As one of the fastest growing tourism sectors in the world, the Muslim travel market brings tremendous opportunities. An increasing number of governments are boosting their efforts to attract more Muslim visitors to their countries,” he added.

Key drivers

A total of 50 global destinations were analysed in the study and benchmarked across three criteria — average daytime temperature, fasting duration and Global Muslim Travel Index 2016 scores — over the next 15 years until 2030. Saudi Arabia, however, has been excluded from the study.

Six key drivers contribute to the increasing number of Muslims travelling during Ramadan. These include the growing number of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah, business travel, spending Ramadan with family, experiencing Ramadan in a different environment and culture, celebrating Eid with family, as well as extreme weather conditions or duration of fasting.

Staff Report