MALAYSIA STILL TOP FOR MUSLIM TRAVELLERS

Malaysia is the most preferred global destination in the fast-growing Muslim travel market, despite two catastrophic air disasters that hit the country's flag-carrier in 2014, a survey showed Wednesday.
Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Indonesia followed Malaysia in the ranking of choice holiday destinations for Muslim travellers, said a report by Islamic travel specialist Crescentrating and payments giant MasterCard.
The report evaluates countries in terms of their attentiveness to the needs of Muslim travellers, including the presence and accessibility of "halal" restaurants with food prepared to Islamic standards, and the provision of prayer rooms at airports, shopping malls and hotels.
Scores in these and other variables were tabulated into a Global Muslim Travel Index in which Muslim-majority Malaysia came on top with a score of 83.8, followed by Turkey (73.8), UAE (72.1), Saudi Arabia (71.3), Qatar (68.2) and Indonesia (67.5).
According to Crescentrating chief executive Fazal Bahardeen, for Muslim travellers Malaysia still remains the top choice simply because it is a great holiday destination for families while offering a very Muslim friendly environment," said .

• This includes everything from excellent attractions, halal food, accommodation, shopping to places for prayers. Malaysia has one of the best infrastructures for the Muslim traveller, he told AFP.
• Fazal said 5.9 million Muslim visitors visited Malaysia in 2014, up from 5.7 million in 2013.

Source: The Malaysian Insider...More...