Muslim-friendly travel: Malaysia lead over UAE narrows, Bahrain, Indonesia gain ground on leaders - study

Photo: Arab tourists walking the old streets of Toledo, Spain on August 15, 2013. Spain's efforts to improve its Muslim-friendly travel ecosystem has bumped it up into the top 10 non-OIC destinations on the Global Muslim Travel Index 2017. Spain ranks 37th globally and 10th on the non-OIC ranking. Olga Lutina / Shutterstock.com

Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) retain top spots as the Muslim-friendliest destinations on the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2017 but the gap between the two is fast narrowing.

The Muslim-friendliness of the two destinations serves as global benchmarks for the travel economy and Malaysia advices other countries on the development of their Islamic tourism ecosystems through the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Program. For the UAE, Dubai has invested heavily since 2013 to work towards its ambition of becoming the world’s capital of the Islamic economy.

The annual GMTI, published by Mastercard and Singapore-based halal travel specialist CrescentRating covers 130 destinations for four key strategic criteria: 1) Access, 2) Communications, 3) Environment, and 4) Services. These are further divided into 11 sub-sections including Muslim arrivals, air connectivity, visa restrictions, suitability as a family holiday destination, and accommodation options.