Malaysia Tops Muslim-Friendly Travel In Global Islamic Economy Rankings
Malaysia topped the rankings in a global Islamic economy report that benchmarks national ecosystems supporting the development of Islamic economy business activityKUALA LUMPUR, 2nd December 2020 - Malaysia placed number one in four, out of six sectors in the State of the Global Islamic Economy (SGIE) Report 2020/21 announced by DinarStandard recently.
YB. Dato' Sri Hajah Nancy Shukri, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) said, the Report's Global Islamic Economy Indicator (GIEI) ranking scored Malaysia as the top ranked country in Muslim-friendly Travel, Halal Food, Islamic Finance and Pharmaceutical & Cosmetics sectors. Malaysia ranked second and fourth respectively in the Media & Recreation and Modest Fashion sectors.
"In realizing of huge potential of Islamic Tourism under the concept of Muslim Friendly Travel (MFT), Malaysia through MOTAC and its agency ITC will continue to increase its effort to gain more market shares through infrastructure and facilities, training, capacity building, and standards & certification and promotion by the tourism promotion boards", she added.
In Muslim-friendly Travel, the Malaysian Government ranked highest in two out of four benchmark dimensions, namely in Governance which refers to regulations related to the tourism industry, and awareness in terms of media coverage and report. ITC offered a series of free online Muslim-friendly tourism related training sessions during the crisis, covering topics such as Halal certification, the needs of the Muslim travellers and Islamic branding and marketing.
In the other two dimensions, Malaysia was placed second in Financial support for inbound tourism spend and third in the Social dimension which refers to the sector's impact on employment.
In the Muslim-friendly Travel sector, 200.3 million Muslim travellers contributed USD194 billion in travel spend in 2019, attesting to its enormous potential. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has crippled growth in this sector which is only expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2023.
Despite the severe environment, the SGIE Report found that investors are still looking at long-term growth, especially in the travel technology area. Tourism establishments seeking a share of the multi-trillion dollar market opportunity in the Islamic economy, have also applied Muslim-friendly tourism guidelines in anticipation of borders reopening and the eventual rebound of the travel and tourism sector. SGIE Report was about Muslim-friendly Accommodation Recognition (MFAR) programme introduced by ITC in 2019 that mushroomed in applications in 2020.
The SGIE offers a comprehensive picture of countries that are currently best positioned to address the multi-trillion dollar global halal economy opportunity. A total of 81 countries comprising OIC countries and non-OIC countries with a prominent halal industry presence were covered in the SGIE Report.
The 2020/21 SGIE Report estimates that Muslims spend USD2.02 trillion in 2019 on food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, modest fashion, media and travel. The spending reflects 3.2 per cent year-on-year growth, Muslim spends in 2020 are forecast by 8 per cent due to the impact of the pandemic.
However, the spending excludes travel is forecast to rebound by the end of 2021 and is slated to reach USD3.3 trillion by 2024, at a cumulative annual growth rate of
3.1 per cent. Islamic finance assets are estimated to have reached USD2.88 trillion in 2019 and are estimated to remain at the same level in 2020.
The 2020/21 Report has produced in partnership with SalaamGateway.com, the largest Islamic economy news and media platform. Global strategic partners of the SGIE Report this year include CIMB Islamic bank.
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UNIT KOMUNIKASI KORPORAT
Kementerian Pelancongan, Seni dan Budaya Malaysia (MOTAC)
Tel: 03-8000 8000 Fax: 03-88917181
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