Now in its second year, MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index has evolved to cover 130 destinations against a total of 11 criteria and continues to provide comprehensive benchmarks to help track the growth of the lucrative Muslim travel segment.
The resulting rankings of the top OIC and non-OIC destinations have been listed below:
The top 10 OIC destinations in the GMTI 2016
|
RANK |
GMTI 2016 RANK |
DESTINATION |
SCORE |
|
1 |
1 |
Malaysia |
81.9 |
|
2 |
2 |
United Arab Emirates |
74.7 |
|
3 |
3 |
Turkey |
73.9 |
|
4 |
4 |
Indonesia |
70.6 |
|
5 |
5 |
Qatar |
70.5 |
|
6 |
6 |
Saudi Arabia |
70.4 |
|
7 |
7 |
Oman |
70.3 |
|
8 |
9 |
Morocco |
68.3 |
|
9 |
10 |
Jordan |
65.4 |
|
10 |
11 |
Bahrain |
63.3 |
The top 10 non-OIC destinations in the GMTI 2016
|
RANK |
GMTI 2016 RANK |
DESTINATION |
SCORE |
|
1 |
8 |
Singapore |
68.4 |
|
2 |
20 |
Thailand |
59.5 |
|
3 |
21 |
United Kingdom |
59.0 |
|
4 |
30 |
South Africa |
53.1 |
|
5 |
31 |
Hong Kong |
53.0 |
|
6 |
31 |
France |
51.6 |
|
7 |
33 |
Taiwan |
50.1 |
|
8 |
34 |
Japan |
49.1 |
|
9 |
35 |
Sri Lanka |
49.0 |
|
10 |
36 |
United States |
48.9 |
Malaysia continues to top the rankings in 2016, even against the backdrop of additional criteria. Malaysia has topped previous rankings produced by CrescentRating since 2011 and this is the sixth year in a row that Malaysia has been able to maintain its number one position as the best destination in the world for Muslim travellers. The destination has consistently maintained its standing amongst the main three themes of family-friendly holiday & safe travel destination, Muslim-friendly services & facilities at the destination, and the Halal awareness of the destination and its destination marketing.
Meanwhile, Turkey has been overtaken by United Arab Emirates for the second spot, while Indonesia has improved its ranking to move to 4th place. Among the non-OIC countries, Singapore retained its top position while Taiwan and Japan have continued to improve their overall ranking.
Although OIC destinations have a distinct advantage due to having Muslim-friendly facilities and services, some non-OIC destinations are specifically targeting the “Muslim Holiday” market and adapting their services to attract them. GMTI 2016 shows that many non-OIC destinations are moving up the ranking at a faster pace.
To access the complete Global Muslim Travel Index 2016, please visit: https://www.crescentrating.com/mastercard-crescentrating-global-muslim-travel-index-gmti-2016.html
