Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Developing and Marketing MFT Products and Services
In the OIC Member Countries
82
4.5 Malaysia
1. Type/Focus area for case study
Field case study/MFT Products and Services and Marketing
2. Reasoning behind focus area choice
Malaysia is ranked first in the State of the Global Islamic Economy 2015/16 report’s Halal
Travel Indicator that rated countries based on the health of the MFT ecosystem of the
country. Malaysia is also ranked as the number one Muslim-friendly destination by the
MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2016. This is the sixth year in
a row that Malaysia has ranked number one having previously topped rankings produced by
CrescentRating219 .
3. Background
Table 7: Malaysia – Tourism Figures
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 CAGR
Total Inbound Tourist
Arrivals (Mil)
27.4 28.67 30.01 31.40 32.86 34.39 35.99 4.65%
Total Inbound
Expenditure ($ Bil)
21.8 22.81 23.87 24.98 26.15 27.36 28.63 4.65%
Total Outbound
Expenditure ($ Bil)
12.52 12.80 13.96 15.08 16.38 17.78 19.31 9.04%
Muslim Tourist
Arrivals (Mil)
4.64 4.86 5.08 5.32 5.57 5.82 6.09 4.65%
Source: UNWTO; DinarStandard synthesis and analysis; Government Statistics.
Malaysia’s Muslim tourist arrivals have been estimated to grow by 4.65 percent CAGR from
4.9 million arrivals in 2015 to nearly 6.1 million arrivals in 2020. The CAGR mirrors total
inbound tourist arrivals and total inbound expenditure, which is estimated to grow from 28.7
million arrivals spending $22.8 billion in 2015 to nearly 36 million arrivals spending $28.6
billion in 2020.
Malaysia is one of the pioneering countries to have an MFT ecosystem, with a Halal industry
development framework and dedicated government agencies in place that help support MFT
within the nation either directly or indirectly.
With a majority Muslim population, Malaysia was also one of the earliest to recognize the
potential of MFT and set up the government linked Islamic Tourism Centre in 2009 to
enhance the MFT industry. They undertook strategic tourism research and market
intelligence as well as providing training and capacity building services in relation to Islamic
tourism.
219 MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2016