As the pandemic's effects have lessened, the tourism industry is starting to regain its bearings and has made significant strides in recent months. Excited tourists who had been restricted to their homes for the previous two and half years are now free to travel thanks to the relaxation of COVID-19 limitations, the restoration of worldwide flights, and improved worldwide aircraft connections.
Several places have seized the chance to increase stakeholder knowledge, improve capacity, and promote Muslim outbound travelers even during the Corona pandemic. The destination's efforts are reflected in this year's ranking. Malaysia still holds the top spot in the GMTI 2022.
The difference between Malaysia and other top Muslim-friendly locations is getting smaller, though. Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia tie for second place. Uzbekistan has improved significantly in the rankings, moving up seven spots to claim the ninth spot. The only non-OIC nation to place in the top 20 of the GMTI 2022 rankings is still Singapore.
Crescent Rating and Mastercard have redesigned the GMTI after pausing it in 2020 owing to the pandemic. Despite the public health crisis, 140 nations made it onto our list of Muslim-friendly vacation destinations and were ranked in the most recent GMTI rankings of 2021 and 2022. Several locations maintained stakeholder awareness, capacity building, and destination marketing to Muslim outbound markets during the COVID-driven "international standstill."
These elements are essential not just to guarantee the life of every participant in the Muslim tourism industry during the pandemic's onslaught. And even to provide them with the skills necessary to embrace the post-crisis world. The Travel Readiness Indicators for each destination were coupled using the ACES 3.0 model to get the GMTI 2022 rankings. To learn more about our new computer models, see this page. The Coronavirus Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), produced and maintained by academics at the University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government, provided the data sets utilized in this analysis, dated June 20, 2021.
According to this research, Malaysia has maintained its position globally as the top destination for Muslims since the Index's debut in 2015. Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia are next. Singapore, Malaysia's neighbor, is the only non-OIC country to make it into the Top 20 of the most recent GMTI Rankings.
Here are the Top 20 Destinations as per GMTI Rankings:
Image Credit: Crescentrating
Singapore came in sixth. While some places failed to make the coveted list, others, like Uzbekistan, have made significant progress. It was ranked 16th in 2019 but rose to 6th after receiving a 65 GMTI 2021 score. To profit from its rich Islamic legacy and grow Ziyarah Tourism, stakeholders in Uzbekistan's Muslim travel sector initiated several projects.
United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iran, Oman, Jordan, Brunei, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Pakistan, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, and the Maldives were other locations that reached the Top 20 list in the year 2022.
At GMTI 2022, Singapore has once again maintained its top spot among non-OIC destinations. Since GMTI's debut in 2015, this position has been effectively upheld. The United Kingdom (UK) and Thailand, which shared the third spot in the 2022 GMTI rankings, followed Taiwan, which kept its position in second place.
With a significant rise in the rankings this year, Spain has emerged as one of the most promising travel destinations. These places have made a lot of effort to welcome and attract Muslim tourists despite having a small percentage of their people who are Muslims.
Singapore, Taiwan, UK, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Japan, France, Germany, Philippines, USA, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ireland, South Korea, Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Tanzania, and Russia are among the nations that made the Top 20. Singapore has maintained the top place since 2015, sharing it with its neighbor Malaysia. Singapore received a 69 on the GMTI 2022.
Image Credit: Crescentrating
Some NON-OIC locations have also seen an improvement in their rankings, such as the UK, which rose from third place in the 2019 Index to second place in 2021 and maintaining it in 2022. The Top 10 Non-OIC destinations continue to be dominated by Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Japan.
The COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly put a dent in the expanding Muslim tourism industry, but it also gave stakeholders a chance to reevaluate their goals and areas of concentration. We hope that the most recent GMTI rankings will not only give members of the Muslim travel sector the crucial information they need to prepare for a world after COVID but also give them hope that Muslim travel will soon resume.
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