May-June . 2021 | @ Halal

11 development last year . But the industry is expected to pick up and slowly gain back its momentum once the borders open .

As a leading country in the Muslim travel industry , Malaysia is gently growing its travel market by building on domestic travel . So , how can the local industry players make use of Malaysia ’ s halal ecosystem ? What is actually the current condition of our inbound and outbound travel markets where Muslim travel is concerned ?

To answer these questions , @ Halal spoke with the Director-General of Islamic Tourism Centre ( ITC ) Malaysia , Dato ’ Dr Mohmed Razip Hasan .

What are the projections for Malaysian and Asian inbound and outbound travel markets where Muslim travel is concerned ? When we talk about the impact of Covid-19 as a whole , Malaysia is badly hit . And as the borders are closed , everyone is restricted to travel in volumes . The number of international tourists coming to Malaysia is practically becoming less .

Statistically , last year , 800,000 tourists were registered as compared to 2019 , when there were 5.3 million . So , we see a big gap here . This pattern can be seen in other segments as well . Hence , we need to do something to instil confidence .

What is the growth potential for Malaysia ’ s Islamic tourism industry this year ? When the pandemic hit last year , Malaysia also took the approach to close all its borders to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic . The number of Muslim tourist arrivals in 2020 plunged to an estimated 882,629 tourists from 5.3 million in 2019 .

Like most countries , Malaysia is still taking precautions by maintaining the closure of its entrances to the country and limiting international flights and visitors ’ access only for special cases .

In this situation , we are guided by UNWTO ’ s forecast . Based on current trends , UNWTO expects international tourist arrivals to be down about 85 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 over the same period of 2019 . Possible tourism rebound may only happen in the second half of the year .

However , this depends on several factors , most notably a major lifting of travel restrictions , the success of vaccination programmes or the introduction of harmonised protocols such as the ‘ Digital Green Certificate ’ planned by the European Commission .

Having said that , however , we need to remain positive the situation will improve soon . More importantly , tourism industry players need to plan now for the eventual re-opening of tourism .

Malaysia ’ s Islamic Tourism industry is rather complex . It is important to really have a target market to see the growth . But , all in all , the potential is great .

The global Muslim travel sector is growing . What are the ways for Malaysian tourism industry players to seize opportunities flowing from this trend now ? While a Covid-19 cure is a critical factor in increasing travel confidence , I believe that travel-ready destinations will bounce back faster than others post-Covid-19 . The Muslim tourist market with a global population of 1.8 billion and inclination for