APAC NTOs BEST GLOBALLY FOR MUSLIM FRIENDLY ONLINE RESOURCES – AGAIN

Korea, Taiwan, come top in report on online Muslim friendly travel content

The 3rd edition report of “How Online Ready Are NTOs for Muslim Travellers 2022” by Pear Anderson drives home the importance of online travel resources to strengthen a destination’s goal and positioning within the Muslim tourist market, which has been reported to be digital savvy

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, 17 OCTOBER, 2022: For the third consecutive edition, Asia Pacific (APAC) tourism boards have dominated the top 10 rankings of the report, How Online Ready Are NTOs for Muslim Travellers in 2022?, comprising of 62% of the top spots, and widening the gap between themselves and their European peers.

The 2022 report was a result of a first-time research collaboration between the Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC), an entity under the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture tasked to develop the Islamic tourism segment, and Pear Anderson, a consultancy specialising in the Southeast Asian tourism industry and the Muslim friendly travel market. It was launched in conjunction with the 3rd World Islamic Tourism Conference (WITC) held at World Trade Centre from 17-19 October, an annual conference organised by ITC to share insights on the Muslim tourist market and its impact on the socioeconomy.

It examines the online resources that NTOs from the top 50 most visited non-Muslim (non-OIC) destinations worldwide have created to support Muslim friendly travel, including information about Muslim friendly food, prayer spaces and hotels. Through analysing the top 50, the overall importance on which NTOs are placing Muslim friendly travel can be gauged.

Out of the 50 destinations studied, 54% of them now have some level of Muslim friendly travel information, compared to just 36% in 2019’s inaugural report, and up from 46% in 2020, a signal of the continued importance destinations are placing on Muslim travellers to boost tourism recovery.

In the 2022 edition, Korea and Taiwan came in joint first place, with Japan and Hong Kong jointly in second place, and Singapore in third place.

Dato’ Dr. Mohmed Razip Hasan, Director General of ITC said: “It’s clear that there’s a big move among destinations to attract Muslim tourists. Online information, clear communication and branding are important in gaining the attention and interest of this market. We hope that this report will provide insights to help destinations make the right decisions and action plans.” 

“APAC destinations are keeping up their impressive lead when it comes to creating online Muslim friendly travel resources,” Hannah Pearson, director of Pear Anderson, said. “Korea and Taiwan are world leaders in innovative Muslim friendly traveller formats and content which, at the heart of it, ensure that Muslim travellers feel welcomed and included in their destinations.”

The report also features a case study from the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, as well as industry best practices for online Muslim friendly tourism resources.

Muslim travel spend is a significant and fast-growing sector, set to grow to $189 billion USD by 2025, according to the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2022. 

2022 Top 10 scoring NTOs for Muslim friendly online resources

Pear Anderson will share more insights into the report in its presentation at WITC on 18 October, 2:30 pm. Report & full rankings can be found at: https://www.pearanderson.com/muslim-nto/

 HEADLINE STATISTICS FROM THE REPORT

• 62% of the top 10 NTOs are from Asia Pacific (60% in 2020)
• 54% of the top 50 most visited destinations now have some form of online resource available for Muslim travellers (36% in 2019, 46% in 2020)
• 40% of the top 10 most visited non-Muslim majority destinations in the world now have online Muslim friendly travel resources (50% in 2020)
• Korea and Taiwan came in joint first place, and Japan and Hong Kong jointly in second place. There is just one point’s difference between first and second place
• New entrants to the top 10 included Cambodia, China, Georgia, Hungary, Philippines, Russia and Vietnam
• Ireland crashed out of the top 10, scoring zero points in the 2022 edition
• Korea and Singapore saw significant increases in points vs 2020

Industry best practices

Top scoring NTOs this year improved their rankings by:

• Adding more information, e.g. more Muslim friendly restaurants or places to pray
• Increasing the number of online resources, e.g. adding Muslim friendly information into their travel mobile apps
• Making Muslim friendly travel content easier to find
• Optimising their rankings for search engines

About the report’s methodology

This is the third edition of the report. It examines the online Muslim friendly travel resources that NTOs from the top 50 most visited non-Muslim destinations worldwide have created, attributing points for categories including:

• Muslim friendly food information
• Prayer spaces information
• Muslim friendly hotel information 

ENDS

ABOUT ISLAMIC TOURISM CENTRE

Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC) is an entity under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malaysia tasked to develop the Islamic tourism segment for Malaysia. It advocates for Muslim-friendly tourism (MFT) by offering research and market intelligence, training, industry development consultation, Muslim-friendly tourism and hospitality (MFTH) service standards and certification, and information exchange.

For further details, kindly contact:

Islamic Tourism Centre
(Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia)
Level 13, No. 2 Tower 1, Jalan P5/6,
Precinct 5, 62200 Putrajaya, Malaysia
Tel: 03-8891 7177 or via email itc@itc.gov.my

For media-related matters, contact the Corporate Communications team:

Anis, Manager, +6012 321 9137, anis@itc.gov.my
Nadhirah, Sr. Executive, +6019 356 0530, nadhirah@itc.gov.my
Ainaa Izzati, Asst. Executive, +6010 266 2535, ainaa@itc.gov.my

Follow ITC on these social platforms:
Facebook: Islamic Tourism Centre
Twitter: @itc_my
Instagram: @itc_my
Youtube: Islamic Tourism Centre

ABOUT PEAR ANDERSON

Pear Anderson are a boutique tourism industry consultancy firm, experts in Southeast Asian tourism. They partner across the spectrum of tourism-related organisations to build a lasting foundation in these markets, providing sales representation, unique insights, research and training. The global Muslim travel segment is a core specialisation and Pear Anderson provide unique insight and access to this lucrative segment.

For further details, kindly contact: 

hello@pearanderson.com