With Ramadhan set to occur from June to February* during the next 15 years, different regions across the world will become attractive destinations for Muslim travellers according to data and analysis from the inaugural MasterCard-CrescentRating Ramadan Travel Report 2016**.
A total of 50 destinations across the globe were analysed in the study and benchmarked across three criteria – average daytime temperature, fasting duration and Global Muslim Travel Index 2016 scores – over the next 15 years until 2030.
The report is the first-ever to provide destinations and businesses in the tourism industry with useful insights on how they can develop medium to long-term strategies to attract and cater to Muslim travellers during Ramadhan in the coming years. From now until 2020, Malaysia is ranked the top destination in the list followed by Indonesia while Singapore is third.
The research identified a number of reasons why Malaysia topped the table including climate and marketing strategies to attract Muslim tourists.
With Ramadhan set to take place in cooler months from 2023, destinations in the Middle East such as the UAE, Qatar and Oman will become an attractive proposition for Muslim travellers. The report also showed that Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia could also benefit from this trend.
Non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries and Southeast Asia will become less attractive destinations resulting in a drop in visitor arrivals from 2030.
“Ramadan travel has been largely ignored by the industry despite the growing trend in the last few years,” said Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating and HalalTrip. “However, the report has revealed some very interesting insights especially for countries in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Muslims traveling in Ramadhan is becoming a reality and one which can benefit countries, through strategic destination marketing and planning by the tourism authorities.”
“As one of the fastest growing tourism sectors in the world, the Muslim travel market brings tremendous opportunities. An increasing number of governments are boosting their efforts to attract more Muslim visitors to their countries. With travel during Ramadhan also expected to grow in the next decade, the new MasterCard-CrescentRating Ramadan Travel Report will be valuable to businesses and governments in helping them gain a better understanding of the unique needs and preferences of Muslim travelers and how they can adapt or tailor products and services for them during the holy month,” said Safdar Khan, Group Country Manager, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei; Group Head, Islamic Payments, Southeast Asia, MasterCard.
Six key drivers have been identified in the report to be contributing to the increasing number of Muslims traveling during Ramadan. These include the growing number of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia to perform umrah, business travel, spending Ramadhan with family, experiencing Ramadhan in a different environment and culture, celebrating Eid with family and extreme weather conditions or duration of fasting.
The report also takes into account the special place that Makkah and Madinah in KSA hold as the top destinations from a religious perspective, irrespective of the three criteria used for this analysis. As such, the Kingdom is excluded from the ranking and has been addressed separately on how Ramadhan travel can help boost efforts towards achieving Vision 2030.
The MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2016 revealed that in 2015 there were an estimated 117 million Muslim visitor arrivals globally, representing close to 10% of the entire travel market. This is forecast to grow to 168 million visitors by 2020, the equivalent of 11% of the market segment, with a market value projected to exceed US$200 billion. Malaysia topped the list for the second year running while the UAE, Turkey, Indonesia and Qatar rounded off the top five OIC countries.
With Ramadhan set to take place in cooler months from 2023, destinations in the Middle East such as the UAE, Qatar and Oman will become an attractive proposition for Muslim travellers. The report also showed that Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia could also benefit from this trend.
Non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries and Southeast Asia will become less attractive destinations resulting in a drop in visitor arrivals from 2030.
“Ramadan travel has been largely ignored by the industry despite the growing trend in the last few years,” said Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating and HalalTrip. “However, the report has revealed some very interesting insights especially for countries in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Muslims traveling in Ramadhan is becoming a reality and one which can benefit countries, through strategic destination marketing and planning by the tourism authorities.”
“As one of the fastest growing tourism sectors in the world, the Muslim travel market brings tremendous opportunities. An increasing number of governments are boosting their efforts to attract more Muslim visitors to their countries. With travel during Ramadhan also expected to grow in the next decade, the new MasterCard-CrescentRating Ramadan Travel Report will be valuable to businesses and governments in helping them gain a better understanding of the unique needs and preferences of Muslim travelers and how they can adapt or tailor products and services for them during the holy month,” said Safdar Khan, Group Country Manager, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei; Group Head, Islamic Payments, Southeast Asia, MasterCard.
Six key drivers have been identified in the report to be contributing to the increasing number of Muslims traveling during Ramadan. These include the growing number of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia to perform umrah, business travel, spending Ramadhan with family, experiencing Ramadhan in a different environment and culture, celebrating Eid with family and extreme weather conditions or duration of fasting.
The report also takes into account the special place that Makkah and Madinah in KSA hold as the top destinations from a religious perspective, irrespective of the three criteria used for this analysis. As such, the Kingdom is excluded from the ranking and has been addressed separately on how Ramadhan travel can help boost efforts towards achieving Vision 2030.
The MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2016 revealed that in 2015 there were an estimated 117 million Muslim visitor arrivals globally, representing close to 10% of the entire travel market. This is forecast to grow to 168 million visitors by 2020, the equivalent of 11% of the market segment, with a market value projected to exceed US$200 billion. Malaysia topped the list for the second year running while the UAE, Turkey, Indonesia and Qatar rounded off the top five OIC countries.
The case of Hajj Muhsin Sierra, Director of Visit Al Andalus who is from Grenada, Spain, illustrates the reality of the Muslim travelling during Ramadhan. "In 2015, I was in Malaysia during Ramadhan as part of my work to build a new mosque in Seville, Spain. I have since fallen in love with the way Ramadhan is celebrated in Malaysia," he said.
"Firstly, the fasting period is quite short in Malaysia. The weather is nice and so is the food. The people in Malaysia are also very warm, humble and friendly and the culture is very laid back. Hence I’ve chosen to spend Ramadhan again this year in Malaysia."
"Firstly, the fasting period is quite short in Malaysia. The weather is nice and so is the food. The people in Malaysia are also very warm, humble and friendly and the culture is very laid back. Hence I’ve chosen to spend Ramadhan again this year in Malaysia."
Interested?
Download the MasterCard-CrescentRating Ramadan Travel Report 2016
Read the Suroor Asia blog post about CrescentRating's Halal Travel Glossary
Read the Suroor Asia blog post about CrescentRating's Halal Travel Glossary
*The Islamic calendar moves backwards several days every year. Ramadhan is mostly in June for 2016 and 2017, and then mostly in May for 2018 and so on.
**About the Ramadan Travel Report 2016
The MasterCard-CrescentRating Ramadan Travel Report looks at the changing patterns of travel
A total of 50 destinations were analyzed in this year’s report. These were selected based on the top 50 destinations from the MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2016 report, of which 49 destinations (excluding Saudi Arabia) were benchmarked based on the weighted averages of three criteria over a span of 15 years, which is an effective timeframe for the long term strategic planning for a destination.
The criteria used in this study were based on the convenience, comfort and ease of travel, and not based from the perspective of Islamic rewards. Three themes were covered:
- Average daytime temperature
- Fasting duration
- GMTI 2016 score. For the purpose of this study, it was assumed that these GMTI scores remain constant over the next 15 years.
The MasterCard-CrescentRating Ramadan Travel Report looks at the changing patterns of travel
A total of 50 destinations were analyzed in this year’s report. These were selected based on the top 50 destinations from the MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2016 report, of which 49 destinations (excluding Saudi Arabia) were benchmarked based on the weighted averages of three criteria over a span of 15 years, which is an effective timeframe for the long term strategic planning for a destination.
The criteria used in this study were based on the convenience, comfort and ease of travel, and not based from the perspective of Islamic rewards. Three themes were covered:
- Average daytime temperature
- Fasting duration
- GMTI 2016 score. For the purpose of this study, it was assumed that these GMTI scores remain constant over the next 15 years.