Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT):
Understanding the Supply and Demand Sides
In the OIC Member Countries
41
help the tourists find, for example, Halal restaurants. Traditionally, the Muslim tourist
would travel to OIC countries since Muslim friendly facilities are available. However,
with the increased competition from non-OIC countries, the number of Muslim tourists
traveling to these destinations are growing.
2. Africa has been left out of the tourism growth. This setback of Africa not keenly
attracting Muslim tourism is only temporary.
OIC Regional Grouping Analysis
Table 6 offers the OIC regional group analysis by the three regional groups of the OIC member
states, which are the Arab Group, Asian Group and African Group. All the data presented is for
inbound tourism only. The year refers to the calendar year. Years 2010 and 2014 are actuals
and 2020 forecast.
Table 6: Inbound tourist arrival data to three Regional groups of OIC member states
Year (Inbound Tourism) 2010 2014 2020
OIC
Inbound Muslim Arrivals (Millions) 52.82 64.32 97.69
Inbound Expenditure by Muslims (US$ M) 41,209 52,080 95,733
Arab Group
Inbound Muslim Arrivals (Millions) 34.46 38.70 52.48
Inbound Expenditure by Muslims (US$ M) 27,679 35,385 66,113
Asian Group
Inbound Muslim Arrivals (Millions) 17.53 25.16 44.59
Inbound Expenditure by Muslims (US$ M) 13,099 16,321 28,990
African Group
Inbound Muslim Arrivals (Millions) 0.83 0.46 0.61
Inbound Expenditure by Muslims (US$ M) 430 372 629
Source: CrescentRating, 2015
By 2020 the Arab group would have the highest average inbound expenditure by Muslims at
US$1,600.60. In addition, inbound tourist arrivals would be the largest for the Arab group. The
Asian group will witness a strong growth in Muslim Arrivals. The forecast growth rate of
tourist arrivals from 2014 to 2020 would be 41.7 percent. The African group will also witness
strong inbound tourist arrivals over the forecast period. But the growth would be from a
relatively low base as compared to the Asian and Arab group. The forecast growth rate will be
44.4 percent.
a) Arab Group
The Arab group is expected to witness strong growth in tourist arrivals over the forecast
period. In 2014 the region witnessed 38.7 million tourists. This would climb to 52.5 million by
2020, which translates into a growth of 23.9 percent. The section below reviews the reasons
behind this growth. Table 7 shows the OIC Arab Group visitor arrivals to the top 5 countries in
2014.