Morocco has moved up to become the eighth most popular destination in the global Muslim travel market, according to the most comprehensive research released on this the sector.

The MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2016, which covers 130 destinations, saw Morocco gain one spot from last year on the list of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations.

Malaysia held on to its pole position followed by UAE, Turkey, Indonesia and Qatar which made up the top five. Indonesia jumped two places to take the fourth spot in this year’s ranking with Bahrain becoming the biggest mover by climbing four spots to take the tenth position.

Singapore also retained its pole position for the non-OIC destinations, with Thailand, the UK, South Africa and Hong Kong making up the top five.

The study also revealed that in 2015, there were an estimated 117 million Muslim visitor arrivals globally, representing close to 10 percent of the entire travel market. This is forecasted to grow to 168 million visitors by 2020 equal to 11 percent of the market segment with a market value projected to exceed US$200 billion.

Asia and Europe were also revealed as the two leading regions in the world for attracting Muslim visitors - accounting for 87 percent of the entire market.

“The MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2016 has now become the number one tool for destinations around the world to realign their strategies to reach out to the Muslim consumer. One of the biggest trends we are seeing is non-OIC destinations making a concerted effort to attract the Muslim tourist and they now represent over 63 percent of the destinations covered in the GMTI. For example, Japan and Philippines have taken some major steps over the last few months to diversify their visitor arrivals and boost their economy in the process,” said Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating & HalalTrip.

“Many already successful destinations around the world are looking to diversify their visitor base to maintain tourist growth rates in today’s increasingly competitive travel market. The fast growing Muslim travel segment is an opportunity in plain sight but in order to benefit from it, it is crucial to understand the needs and preferences of Muslim travelers and how to adapt and tailor products and services for them. We believe that the GMTI provides real value to businesses and governments looking to tap into this important market segment,” said Matthew Driver, Group Executive, Global Products & Solutions, Asia Pacific, MasterCard.

The GMTI 2016 is the most comprehensive research available on one of the fastest-growing tourism sectors in the world, which represents 10 percent of the entire travel economy.  

The GMTI looks at in-depth data covering 130 destinations, up from 100 in 2015. This is the first time such thorough insights have been provided on one of the world’s fastest-growing tourism sectors.

The Index helps destinations, travel services and investors to track the health and growth of this travel segment while benchmarking their individual progress in reaching out to this growing market.

All 130 destinations in the GMTI were scored against a backdrop of criteria that 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 criteria was then weighted to make up the overall index score.  This year, two new criteria - air connectivity and visa restrictions - were added to further enhance the Index.  

Morocco had an Index score of 68.3 placing it at ninth place in the overall combined ranking. Malaysia scored 81.9, followed by UAE at 74.7, Turkey at 73.9 and Indonesia at 70.6. In comparison, the highest scoring non-OIC destination Singapore scored 68.4 with second place Thailand at 59.5.

Taiwan and Japan have continued to improve their overall rankings and the average GMTI scores by region show Asia as the leading region.

The overall average GMTI score for the complete 130 destinations currently stands at 43.7.  From a regional perspective, Asia Pacific destinations lead with an average GMTI score of 56.5.

The top 10 OIC destinations in the GMTI 2016

RANK
    

GMTI 2016 RANK
    

DESTINATION
    

SCORE

1
    

1
    

Malaysia
    

81.9

2
    

2
    

United Arab Emirates
    

74.7

3
    

3
    

Turkey
    

73.9

4
    

4
    

Indonesia
    

70.6

5
    

5
    

Qatar
    

70.5

6
    

6
    

Saudi Arabia
    

70.4

7
    

7
    

Oman
    

70.3

8
    

9
    

Morocco
    

68.3

9
    

10
    

Jordan
    

65.4

10
    

11
    

Bahrain
    

63.3

The top 10 non-OIC destinations in the GMTI 2016

RANK
    

GMTI 2016 RANK
    

DESTINATION
    

SCORE

1
    

8
    

Singapore
    

68.4

2
    

20
    

Thailand
    

59.5

3
    

21
    

United Kingdom
    

59.0

4
    

30
    

South Africa
    

53.1

5
    

31
    

Hong Kong
    

53.0

6
    

31
    

France
    

51.6

7
    

33
    

Taiwan
    

50.1

8
    

34
    

Japan
    

49.1

9
    

35
    

Sri Lanka
    

49.0

10
    

36
    

United States
    

48.9