ITC-CRESCENTRATING WEBINAR TO PROVIDE MALAYSIAN LOCAL INDUSTRY PLAYERS GREATER INSIGHTS INTO MUSLIM TRAVEL MARKET

Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC), in partnership with CrescentRating, will be conducting another upcoming webinar about Muslim-friendly Malaysia, this time giving focus to the domestic tourism industry

PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA, 4 AUGUST 2021: Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC), an agency under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture Malaysia (MOTAC), is pleased to share an upcoming knowledge-sharing session on the Muslim-friendly travel segment for our local Malaysian tourism stakeholders.

Poised to be the third webinar of the Muslim-friendly Malaysia Webinar series, this installment, set to take place on 5 August 2021, as its name suggests, will lend greater focus towards our national tourism industry in terms of spreading more awareness towards the potentials of the Muslim tourist market and the ways to leverage it.

The Muslim travel market is widespread and one that is sought after. For instance, it has been reported by Aljazeera that Saudi tourists, which is a key component of the said segment, spent US$22 billion travelling abroad in 2019. Moreover, given its relatively young population, many Saudis go abroad in search of holiday options. Thus, it is not surprising to see that many destinations are gearing up to capture this Muslim travel market.

Furthermore, when we close in on the regional scene in ASEAN, which accounts for a Muslim population between 200 and 300 million, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei being home to the three largest proportions of Muslim population here, it is an equally sizeable market too.

Flowing from that, ITC observes that it is equally paramount for domestic tourism players in Malaysia to get its share of insights into the value of the Muslim travel market, as a new way forward.

“ITC strives in its commitment towards industry preparedness come the re-opening of borders when tourism and travel is allowed once again. Thus, the upcoming seminar serves as a resource that is insightful for our local industry players who are looking to tap into the Muslim tourist market,” said Director-General of ITC, Dato’ Dr. Mohmed Razip Haji Hasan.

Being known internationally as a Centre of Excellence and a point of reference in all things Islamic Tourism and Hospitality, ITC conducts various trainings and shares its research findings with fellow tourism partners through various webinars even during the pandemic.

ITC also recognises the trend of growing interest among industry players towards the Muslim travel market, be it domestic or abroad. As seen in the previous two sessions of this webinar series, each targeted towards the Thai-specific and ASEAN at-large markets. ITC, notably, was also an active participant in the recent Halal In Travel Global Summit (HITGS) 2021.

Dato’ Dr. Mohmed Razip further added, saying: “We gathered from the feedback and reception of the HITGS 2021 event that there is a growing interest in the industry, not just regional in ASEAN but worldwide, towards the Muslim travel segment, hence to cater to this phenomenon, more avenues such as knowledge-sharing sessions like this webinar are essential to instil more awareness towards the Islamic Tourism and MFTH concepts. ITC also relishes opportunities such as this to forge greater cooperation and working relationships with our fellow industry players out there whilst keeping touch with global market trends.” 

Generally, Muslim travellers are noted for two key trends, namely, a greater tendency to have longer stays and a higher propensity to spend more. Where their faith-based needs are concerned, two vital essentials come to mind, that is the availability of Halal food and provision of prayer facilities. All those features are readily available in Malaysia, which has a Muslim-majority population. 

The Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2021, also launched during HITGS 2021, showed that Malaysia was among the top destinations both inbound and outbound in the Muslim travel market range, and above it all, Malaysia maintained its position as the top Muslim-friendly destination among other countries in the said market.

Thus, Dato’ Dr. Mohmed Razip sees that, among others, destination management should be a key index in maintaining Malaysia’s position as the top destination in Muslim travel, whilst putting more emphasis on sustainable and responsible tourisms — which are also part of the Islamic Tourism concept.

“Destination management involves taking measures to regulate the economic, social, cultural, and environmental perimeters of a tourism destination, in accordance with good governance. As a key step towards sustainable tourism, the actions we take in managing our destinations should be geared towards creating an ecosystem that is favourable to our tourists, the host community or population, the industry players, as well as mother nature.” 

“On the other hand, by giving equal weightage to responsible tourism, we should make travellers an active part of communities they visit, instead of just being a spectator. Going forward, there is a need to foster a culture in our tourism industry to nurture meaningful connections with the visited communities whilst being respectful of the environment and the local customs,” he concluded.

ITC’s partner hotels under the Muslim-Friendly Accommodation Recognition (MFAR) programme, namely Mardhiyyah Hotel and Suites and Premiere Hotel Klang will be sponsoring prizes to lucky members of the audience attending the webinar. Firefly airlines will also be contributing a pair of domestic return flight tickets.

To register for the event, check out the link below: https://events.crescentrating.com/MalaysiaTourismIndustryStakeholderWebinar

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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) services standards and certification, and information exchange.

In 2021, ITC was named the recipient of the Strategic Business Alliance Award at The BrandLaureate World Halal Best Brand E-Branding Awards 2021. It is a recognition of ITC’s efforts and endeavours in formulating new strategies to meet the new normal of the business environment to ensure business continuity and sustainability, notwithstanding its role to develop and grow the Islamic tourism segment in Malaysia.

In addition, Malaysia was named top country in the region in the MFT sector by the State of the Global Islamic Economy (SGIE) Report 2020/21. Malaysia also retained the top-ranked destination in the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2021, a position it has defended since the launch of the Index in 2015.

These recognitions are an added motivation for ITC to continue to strengthen its efforts in being a prime mover and leading institution to ensure Malaysia is at the forefront of MFTH.

For further details, kindly contact:

Islamic Tourism Centre,
Level 13, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia
No. 2 Tower 1, Jalan P5/6,
Precinct 5, 62200 Putrajaya, Malaysia
Tel: 03-8891 7177 or via email itc@mymuslimtrip.com/v2

Follow ITC on these social platforms:
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Twitter: @itc_my
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