Yahoo – AFP,
5 March 2015
A tourist
couple walks on a street in Kuala Lumpur on March 4,2015
(AFP Photo/Manan
Vatsyayana)
|
Malaysia is
the most preferred global destination in the fast-growing Muslim travel market,
despite two catastrophic air disasters that hit the country's flag-carrier in
2014, a survey showed Wednesday.
Turkey, the
United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Indonesia followed Malaysia in
the ranking of choice holiday destinations for Muslim travellers, said a report
by Islamic travel specialist Crescentrating and payments giant MasterCard.
The report
evaluates countries in terms of their attentiveness to the needs of Muslim
travellers, including the presence and accessibility of "halal"
restaurants with food prepared to Islamic standards, and the provision of
prayer rooms at airports, shopping malls and hotels.
Scores in
these and other variables were tabulated into a Global Muslim Travel Index in
which Muslim-majority Malaysia came on top with a score of 83.8, followed by
Turkey (73.8), UAE (72.1), Saudi Arabia (71.3), Qatar (68.2) and Indonesia
(67.5).
"For
Muslim travellers, Malaysia still remains the top choice simply because it is a
great holiday destination for families while offering a very Muslim friendly
environment," said Crescentrating chief executive Fazal Bahardeen.
"This
includes everything from excellent attractions, halal food, accommodation,
shopping to places for prayers. Malaysia has one of the best infrastructures
for the Muslim traveller," he told AFP.
Fazal said
5.9 million Muslim visitors visited Malaysia in 2014, up from 5.7 million in
2013.
The report,
the first carried out jointly by Crescentrating and MasterCard, involved 81
non-Muslim country destinations and 29 Muslim nations.
Its release
came just days ahead of the first anniversary of the still-unsolved
disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on March 8, 2014 while on a
flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
A massive
air and underwater search has failed to find any trace of the plane in what
remains one of history's great aviation mysteries.
On July 17
last year, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing
all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.
Despite the
twin disasters, arrivals into Malaysia from January to October 2014 rose 9.6
percent year-on-year -- but the number of visitors from China fell 11.2 percent
as most of the passengers aboard MH370 were Chinese nationals, according to the
latest Malaysian government figures.
The travel
survey showed that non-Islamic countries have made strides in gaining a share
of the Muslim travel market, estimated to be worth $145 billion in 2014 and
forecast to grow to $200 billion by 2020.
Among the
non-Muslim destinations included in the study, Singapore emerged as the top
choice followed by Thailand. Taiwan and Japan also got high rankings, placing
10 and 11th, respectively.
Singapore
has "some of the best halal food environments", while Thailand, Japan
and Taiwan have taken big steps to meet the needs of Islamic holiday-goers,
Fazal said.
"The
typical Muslim consumer is now younger, educated and with a larger disposable
income which has precipitated an increased propensity to travel," the
report said.
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