What does the rise of the Muslim traveler mean for the global travel industry?

The travel industry often experiences subtle demographic shifts that grow from a drop into a wave as a once niche demographic grows into a vital force for the industry. In the last few years, China has taken the travel industry by storm. The latest to garner industry attention? Muslims —  a group that's 1.57 billion strong.

Muslims' increasing appetite for travel is the focus of the annual MasterCard/CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI),which calculated that the current tally of Muslim visitors is 108 million worldwide with a total spend of $145 billion. By 2020, this number is set to jump nearly 40% to 150 million visitors that will spend $200 billion. That's an enormous flow of people and marks the biggest movement of a single demographic in the world — for perspective, China just passed the 100 million outbound tourist mark last year.

So what does this mean for the average traveler? Not much — unless you're a Muslim, in which case you'll be happy to see increased awareness of the specific needs of Muslim travelers. Mizan Raja, owner of Islamic Travels, points to the underlying challenge of serving this growing travel demographic. He told Road Warrior Voices:

Muslims traveling is not new but what is being offered is the challenge. Since our launch, we have seen a larger number  of younger generation seeking an alternative travel lifestyle, so far we have serviced over a few thousand per year. Unfortunately most of the destinations, except Turkey, China, Japan, have not embraced "Islamic/ Halal Tourism" as a concept. 

 

Most of our travelers are young, aged 45 less, and because this community is very faith conscious as opposed to their parents, the future of travel industry has to cater for such travelers not only 'white middle class', Chinese, Japanese and Indians. 

Here's a breakdown of destinations fueling the rise of Muslim travelers.

Who recorded the most arrivals?

Last year, 30 destinations in total accounted for 80% of Muslim arrivals.

Clearly, the rise of the Muslim traveler is most visible in areas with large concentrations of Muslims, such as Turkey and Malaysia. These are areas in which important items, such as Halal food, are much easier to come by.

Who ranks highest for the Muslim traveler?

For the fifth year in a row, Malaysia tops the rankings for Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries. The GMTI ranked global destinations according to factors in three buckets: Suitability as a holiday destination, family friendliness and safety; Muslim-friendly services and facilities available at the destination; and Halal awareness and outreach to Muslims by the destination.