Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT):
Understanding the Supply and Demand Sides
In the OIC Member Countries
40
Total Muslim Visitor Arrivals to non-OIC member states growth over the forecast period will
be 57.75%. Non-OIC member states are actively seeking to attract the Muslim travelers.
Singapore, United Kingdom, Germany and France have traditionally attracted the Muslim
tourist. Recently Japan, Korea and Australia for example have sought to attract the Muslim
traveler. Muslim visitors from OIC to Non-OIC growth rate will be 76.38 percent.
The following Table 5 list the top 15 OIC destinations by Muslim visitor arrivals
Table 5: Muslim Visitor Arrivals to the top 15 OIC Member States for the period 2014
Country Name Muslim Visitor Arrivals
(Inbound Tourist)
Muslim Visitor Arrivals
Expenditure (Inbound Tourist)
1 Saudi Arabia 11.2 $7,718.1
2 Turkey 7.1 $6,606.9
3 United Arab Emirates 6.5 $7,734.2
4 Bahrain 5.9 $1,175.3
5 Malaysia 5.3 $4,290.9
6 Kazakhstan 4.3 $1,456.1
7 Iran, Islamic Rep. 4.1 $942.5
8 Tunisia 3.0 $1,316.5
9 Jordan 2.0 $2,696.4
10 Egypt, Arab Rep. 1.9 $1,470.4
11 Kyrgyz Republic 1.7 $293.9
12 Indonesia 1.2 $1,328.4
13 Morocco 0.8 $592.1
14 Algeria 0.6 $70.0
15 Albania 0.3 $139.1
Source: CrescentRating, 2015
Turkey remains the largest tourist destination for the OIC member state. Increasing marketing
activities from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and improved travel infrastructure such as
new airports, new hotel openings and improvements to other travel services have positively
impacted the industry. Kazakhstan has had the fastest growth in inbound tourism. A growing
economy combined with greater government investment and an improving business
environment, resulted in a growing number of inbound tourists. In addition, the government
financially supports travel agencies’ participation in international tourism fairs.
Muslim visitor arrivals continue to increase in the OIC member states. The overall key trend in
visitor arrivals to the OIC member states is that Muslim travel is heavily focused on these top
15 destinations.
Tourism in the OIC member states has a vast potential for development as a sustainable
industry. However, considering the modest share of OIC member states in the world tourism
market, it seems that the potential has not yet manifested itself in desirable levels of tourism
development in many OIC countries, or in the OIC region as a whole. Below is a discussion of
tourism trends in the OIC member states.
1. Competition; Asia-Pacific, and in particular South East Asia, is keenly attracting the
Muslim tourist. The governments in these countries have developed guidebooks to