- The Mastercard-CrescentRating Indonesia Muslim Travel Index (IMTI) 2018 benchmarks 10 Indonesian provinces on their readiness to welcome Muslim tourists
- IMTI reveals that Lombok, Aceh, and Jakarta as key destinations for halal tourism
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| Source: Crescentrating website. IMTI 2018 report cover. |
The IMTI benchmarks Indonesian provinces in four strategic areas – access, communications, environment and services – and tracks the health and the growth of the travel segment across the country. The 10 provinces covered in this years’ index are Aceh, the Riau Islands, West Sumatra, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, South Sulawesi and Lombok (West Nusa Tenggara). The IMTI is part of the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) Series of reports.
The inaugural IMTI reveals that Lombok, Aceh, and Jakarta are new key destinations for halal tourism.
In 2016, a Halal Tourism Acceleration and Development Team was set up by the Ministry of Tourism in Indonesia to address the development and promotion of halal travel in the country amidst rising competition from other countries developing their own halal tourism initiatives. Indonesia has worked to develop infrastructure and services to attract the Muslim tourist and has consistently improved its global position in the GMTI, from 6th place in 2015 to 2nd place in 2018.
Best known for its pristine beaches and home to over a thousand mosques, Lombok has been at the forefront of developing the destination for halal tourism. The regional authorities have shown strong commitment to educate the stakeholders and promote the destination as a Muslim-friendly destination.
Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said, “IMTI is an important milestone to achieve the halal tourism target by 2019, including becoming the No. 1 halal destination and attracting 5 million foreign Muslim travelers, 25% of the overall 2019 foreign visitor target.”
Global Muslim traveller expenditure is projected to reach US$220 billion in 2020 according to GMTI 2018. It is expected to grow a further US$80 billion to hit US$300 billion by 2026. In 2017, there were an estimated 131 million Muslim visitor arrivals globally - up from 121 million in 2016 - and this is forecast to grow to 156 million visitors by 2020, representing 10% of the global travel segment.
Halal tourism is key to Indonesia’s economic growth and it is prospected to be the country’s biggest foreign exchange source in the future. The travel index highlighted recommendations for innovation and growth in the Muslim travel segment in Indonesia. Recommendations included improving connectivity and infrastructure as well as building online content and resources to attract more international tourists, while improving the country’s overall global halal destination branding.
“Given its natural beauty and cultural richness, tourism offers a huge growth opportunity for Indonesia. With its standing as the world’s most populous Muslim country, Indonesia has the core infrastructure and environment in place to cater to the needs of Muslim travelers. IMTI 2018 insights will enable the regions within Indonesia to build on their strengths to better cater to the requirements of Muslim travelers," said Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating & HalalTrip.
“Mastercard and CrescentRating have collaborated since 2015 to create a suite of comprehensive research material offering invaluable insights on the halal travel sector. These in turn enable governments and the tourism industry to better cater to the needs of Muslim travelers. Indonesia has done a wonderful job in enhancing the country’s tourism landscape and infrastructure. The IMTI is an innovative partnership between the public and private sector which aims to empower provinces with the information they need to continuously improve their local travel industry,” said Safdar Khan, Division President Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, Mastercard.
IMTI 2018 Rank
|
Province
|
Score
|
1
|
Lombok (West Nusa Tenggara)
|
58
|
2
|
Aceh
|
57
|
2
|
Jakarta
|
56
|
4
|
West Sumatra
|
55<
|
5
|
Yogyakarta
|
51
|
7
|
West Java
|
51
|
6
|
Riau Islands
|
50
|
8
|
East Java
|
48
|
9
|
Central Java
|
47
|
10
|
South Sulawesi
|
30
|
Details:
Read the report
Explore:
Read the Suroor Asia blog post about building a halal-friendly tourism industry in Indonesia
Hashtag: #IMTI2018
*Key metrics for IMTI 2018 include access, which comprises of infrastructure; communications, which looks at how destinations market themselves to the target audience; environment, one which is welcoming of Muslim visitors; and services. Each criterion is then weighted to make up the overall index score.
Read the report
Explore:
Read the Suroor Asia blog post about building a halal-friendly tourism industry in Indonesia
Hashtag: #IMTI2018
*Key metrics for IMTI 2018 include access, which comprises of infrastructure; communications, which looks at how destinations market themselves to the target audience; environment, one which is welcoming of Muslim visitors; and services. Each criterion is then weighted to make up the overall index score.