Radio Islam – Umm Muhammed Umar- 11/05/2017

The Muslim travel market is flying South Africa’s travel flag even higher. The country has moved up from 5th position last year. This is according to the Mastercard-Crescent Rating Global Muslim Travel Index held in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Index covers 130 destinations.

SA has special tourism offerings, particularly appealing to Muslim travellers. Placed behind Singapore, Thailand and the UK of Non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) markets for the third consecutive year, SA has an Index score of 53.6

Malaysia, meanwhile, kept the first position for OIC, as well as first overall. Indonesia moved up to third place in the overall rankings.

According to the Index, a number of non- OIC destinations in Asia have also moved up the rankings.

This followed an intensive effort to develop services to cater for and attract Muslim travellers. While Hong Kong is in the top five for non-OIC destinations, Japan has moved up two places to take the sixth spot.

Spain, meanwhile, has entered the top 10 for the first time with Singapore remaining the only non-OIC destination in the overall top 10.

Research indicates the Muslim travel market will continue to grow rapidly. The sector is estimated to grow to $220 billion by 2020. It’s projected to grow a further $80 billion to reach US$300 billion by 2026, according to News24.
Asia, however, still leads in it’s attractiveness to Muslim tourists, with Africa next.

CEO of CrescentRating & HalalTrip, Fazal Bahardeen, says

“We are definitely seeing the influence of a new breed of young travellers, millennials and Gen Z who (have) a real desire to explore the world while still adhering to their faith-based needs.”

He adds, “……destinations like South Africa must recognise and implement measures accordingly…..”

Bahardeen says the requirements of younger travellers can be seen in the growth of areas particular to Muslims such as Halal food and modest fashion.