Published date:Feb 19 2025

Journal Title: KnE Social Sciences

Issue title: The International Conference on Economic and Sustainable Development (ICESIDE)

Pages:232 - 243

DOI: 10.18502/kss.v10i5.18117

M Rasyidmohtar.rasyid@trunojoyo.ac.idDepartment of Economics, Faculty of Economic and Business, Universitas Trunojoyo Madura

F Ayuni HattaUniversiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the development of global religious tourism based on the results of the latest report from the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) in 2024. The GMTI is a strategic index designed to assess the readiness of a tourist destination to attract Muslim tourists, both from Muslim-majority and non-Muslim countries. The index reflects the destination’s commitment to providing services that align with Muslim needs and values, as well as offering a safe, comfortable, and Islamic principles travel experience. GMTI also plays a role in mapping out new opportunities in the halal tourism sector, which has great potential to continue to grow in the future. The results of the assessment from the GMTI study show that Malaysia has consistently been the main reference in global religious tourism. Recently, Indonesia has also emerged as the first ranking in the GMT qualifiers. Surprisingly, it turns out that Saudi Arabia, which is the main reference for Muslim worship, is still in third place. These results show that the potential for religious tourism in Malaysia and Indonesia is still very high.

Keywords: development, halal tourism, religious, GMTI

[1] Slamet AI, Abdullah I, Laila NQ. The contestation of the meaning of halal tourism. Heliyon. 2022 Mar;8(3):e09098.

[2] Stone MJ, Sthapit E. Memories are not all positive: conceptualizing negative memorable food, drink, and culinary tourism experiences. Tour Manag Perspect. 2024 Nov;54:54.

[3] Goel G, Dash SR. Household pandemic Internet search intensity and stock returns: A case of tourism industry resiliency. IIMB Manag Rev. 2023 Dec;35(4):426–40.

[4] Pham T, Nugroho A. Tourism-induced poverty impacts of COVID-19 in Indonesia. Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights. 2022 Nov;3(2):100069.

[5] Rifai H, Lukman KM, Quevedo JM, Francis P, Sjafrie ND, Triyono, et al. Understanding stakeholders’ perception on developing seagrass-associated tourism: evidence from marine protected areas of Bintan Island, Indonesia. Mar Pollut Bull. 2024 Dec;209 Pt A:117063.

[6] Hasri NH. Taib MohdZMohd, Ahmad SSh. Relevance of Regulatory Policies in Governing Adherence to Halal Concept in the Design of Food Premises in Malaysia. Procedia Soc Behav Sci. 2016 Jun;222:306–14.

[7] Samori Z, Sabtu N. Developing Halal Standard for Malaysian Hotel Industry: An Exploratory Study. Procedia Soc Behav Sci. 2014 Mar;121:144–57.

[8] Dincer FI, Dincer MZ, Yilmaz S. The Economic Contribution of Turkish Tourism Entrepreneurship on the Development of Tourism Movements in Islamic Countries. Procedia Soc Behav Sci. 2015 Jul;195:413–22.

[9] Viken A, Heimtun B. Tourism mobilities and climate crisis dilemmas: tourists traveling towards a climate apocalypse? Ann Tour Res. 2024 Nov;109:109.

[10] Zhang P, Wang J, Li R. Tourism-type ontology framework for tourism-type classification, naming, and knowledge organization. Heliyon. 2023 Apr;9(4):e15192.