MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2015 has finally been released, with a new and updated list of the top Muslim-friendly destinations for the year.
Malaysia and Singapore have been ranked the best Muslim-friendly destinations in the MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2015 – in the Organisation of Isalmic Cooperation (OIC) and non-OIC destination categories respectively.
Malaysia takes the top spot on the list for the OIC destination category, followed by, Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The top 10 destinations have been listed below:
The Top 10 OIC destinations of GMTI 2015
| RANK | OVERALL
GMTI 2015 RANK |
DESTINATION | SCORE |
| 1 | 1 | Malaysia | 83.8 |
| 2 | 2 | Turkey | 73.8 |
| 3 | 3 | United Arab Emirates | 72.1 |
| 4 | 4 | Saudi Arabia | 71.3 |
| 5 | 5 | Qatar | 68.2 |
| 6 | 6 | Indonesia | 67.5 |
| 7 | 7 | Oman | 66.7 |
| 8 | 8 | Jordan | 66.4 |
| 9 | 10 | Morocco | 64.4 |
| 10 | 11 | Brunei | 64.3 |
In the non-OIC destination category Singapore ranks first, with Thailand, UK, South Africa and France making up the top five. The top 10 destinations in the non-OIC destination category have been listed below:
The Top 10 non-OIC destinations of GMTI 2015
| RANK | OVERALL
GMTI 2015 RANK |
DESTINATION | SCORE |
| 1 | 9 | Singapore | 65.1 |
| 2 | 20 | Thailand | 59.2 |
| 3 | 25 | United Kingdom | 55.0 |
| 4 | 30 | South Africa | 51.1 |
| 5 | 31 | France | 48.2 |
| 6 | 32 | Belgium | 47.5 |
| 7 | 33 | Hong Kong | 47.5 |
| 8 | 34 | USA | 47.3 |
| 9 | 35 | Spain | 46.5 |
| 10 | 36 | Taiwan | 46.2 |
Based on in-depth research and travel data, the rankings cover 100 destinations to create an overall index. All 100 destinations in the GMTI were scored against a backdrop of criteria which included suitability as a family holiday destination, the level of services and facilities it provides, accommodation options, marketing initiatives as well as visitor arrivals. Each criterion was then weighted to make up the overall index score. This is the first time such thorough insights have been provided into the Muslim travel market.
The index will provide travellers, governments, travel services and investors comprehensive benchmarks on several important criteria, enabling them to track the health and growth of this travel segment.
