COMCEC Tourism Outlook-2016
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5 Muslim Friendly Tourism in the OIC Member Countries1
With an increasing awareness and expanding numbers of Muslim tourists, tourism sector has
started to offer special products and services in accordance with the Islamic principles, to cater
the needs and demands of these tourists. With the growth of the Muslim travel market, different
terminology and definitions are used to refer to this segment. Terms like Islamic Tourism, Halal
Tourism, Shariah Compliant Tourism are examples of these usages. COMCEC selected “Muslim
Friendly Tourism (MFT)” term to be more comprehensive and defined it as “activities of Halal
conscious travelers, traveling for any purpose, which is permissible (halal)”.
MFT has become an important sub-category of tourism for Muslim travelers. A growing number
of Muslim travelers have become recently more Halal conscious and prefer Muslim-Friendly
services while having their vacation. In this respect, meeting the faith-based needs of the Muslim
tourists (such as certified halal food, clean prayer and ablution facilities, iftar and sahoor
services during the Holy month of Ramadan, recreational facilities with privacy and a decent
environment for families, etc.) are very crucial.
The Muslim population and their spendable/expendable income is growing. According to a
research, 1 out of 3 people born between 1990 and 2030 will be Muslim. Hence, the Muslim
population is estimated to be 2.2 billion by 2030, which will be one of key catalysts for the
growth of MFT (Pew Research, 2014).
In 2015, it was estimated that there were 117 million Muslim international travelers. This is
projected to grow to 168 million by 2020, where the travel expenditure by Muslim travelers is
expected to exceed USD 200 billion (CrescentRating, 2016).
According to Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2016, Malaysia has consistently been able to
maintain its standing amongst the main three themes of (1) Family-friendly holiday and safe
travel destination (2) Muslim-friendly services and facilities at the destination, and (3) Halal
awareness and destination marketing. United Arab Emirates has overtaken Turkey to take the
second spot, while Indonesia has improved its ranking to move to 4th place (CrescentRating,
2016).
The COMCEC TourismWorking Group is focusing onMuslimFriendly Tourism (MFT) in its three
consecutive meetings. The 7th TourismWorking Group was held on February 4th, 2016, with the
theme of “Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT): Understanding the Demand and Supply Side in the OIC
Member Countries.” A research report was prepared on the theme of the meeting, which mainly
focused on creating awareness about MFT as well as the developments regarding the demand
and supply side of MFT in the Member Countries. This report, as well as the Member Country
representatives during the 7th Working Group Meeting highlighted some major challenges faced
by the member countries.
1 The 7th, 8 th and 9th Meetings of the COMCEC Tourism Working Group will be held with the theme of Muslim Friendly
Tourism. Thus, the Tourism Outlook 2016 includes this section as an introductory section for the meeting.