Malaysia no1 choice for halal holidays
Malaysia is the world’s top vacation destination for Muslim travelers, according to an annual survey by Crescentrating.com, a website which ranks Halal-friendly travel services.
The Southeast Asian country retained its top spot, which it has held every year since the survey was first published in 2011, followed by United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
Although governed by an Islamic ruling class, Malaysia is famously one of the most multi-cultural countries in the world with very large and influential Chinese and South Indian communities.
The biggest Halal-friendly improvement over the last year came from Japan, which has recently focused on attracting a bigger slice of the Muslim travel sector, worth a reputed $US140 billion globally.
"Japan has definitely been the most active destination in the last year on this segment of travelers," said Cresentrating CEO Fazal Bahardeen.
"It has launched a number of initiatives including awareness programs and a Muslim travel guide to Japan," he said.
The poll takes into account a destination’s family-friendly credentials, general awareness of Muslim travelers’ needs and availability of halal food and prayer rooms.
Unsurprisingly, the top ten countries all came from the Islamic world.
The top ranking non-Islamic nations were Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and the UK.
The biggest faller was Egypt, which fell from the number two spot down to tenth in this year’s rankings, mirroring its tourism industry in general which has taken a battering due to ongoing civil unrest.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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