Distinction in travel journalism
Is independent travel journalism important to you?
Click here to keep it independent

9 Apr, 2017

Mini Symposium on Islamic Tourism to be held in KL 13-14 April

Kuala Lumpur (ITC media release) — Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC), under the purview of Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia is organising its first Mini Symposium on Islamic Tourism 2017. The symposium will take place from 13 to 14 April 2017 with eight (8) confirmed paper presenters of Islamic tourism from Masters and Ph.D researchers of local universities.

Islamic tourism or Muslim-friendly Tourism (MFT) is a fast growing segment of tourism that has received immense interest from the industry. According to the State of the Global Economy Report 2016/2017, Muslim travellers spent a collective amount of USD 151 billion for tourism in 2015. The MFT segment witnessed a significant growth since the year 2000 with the recorded growth of USD 20 billion to an estimate of USD 243 billion in 2021. As a result of the significant economic impact and market expansion of MFT, more and more countries are starting to venture into this segment of tourism.

Being among the pioneers of MFT, Malaysia had once again topped the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2016 for sixth consecutive year in a survey done by Crescentrating and Mastercard. In the GMTI report it is reported that among the significant factors that is being taken into consideration by Muslim travellers to visit Malaysia are safety of travellers, availability of MFT facilities, awareness on halal and destination marketing.

To further strengthen the MFT segment, Malaysia will continue to engage the relevant stakeholders and to conducting training programmes and research on various topics surrounding Islamic tourism and MFT.

The Mini Symposium on Islamic Tourism 2017 is an effort by ITC to provide a platform for intellectual discourse and information exchange for researchers and industry players to discuss on issues related to Islamic tourism and MFT.

The one and a half day symposium will be officiated by the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia YB Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin on 13 April 2017.