Indonesia to launch new index to track nation’s halal tourism industry

Photo: A tourist takes a selfie in front of Fatahillah Museum in Jakarta's Old Town, a popular tourist spot in Jakarta, Indonesia August 2, 2017. REUTERS/Beawiharta

JAKARTA – Indonesia's Team for Accelerated Development of Halal Tourism, a taskforce under the ministry of tourism, will launch the Indonesia Muslim Travel Index (IMTI) in September to track and benchmark the nation’s progress in the development of its halal tourism industry, Riyanto Sofyan, its chairman told Salaam Gateway.

IMTI is a range of key performance indicators (KPIs) in line with halal industry benchmark the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) that since 2011 has measured the level of Muslim-friendly travel in 130 countries. Indonesia climbed one rank to joint second place with the United Arab Emirates on the GMTI 2018, behind Malaysia that retains pole position as the Muslim-friendliest destination.

Indonesia’s index will use GMTI’s four overarching criteria—access, communication, environment, and service—and include more detailed metrics to assess the country's halal tourism development, according to Sofyan.