Indonesia's second place in the 2022 Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) is a significant asset for Indonesia to be more serious about working on the potential of national halal tourism. National Tourism Strategist, Taufan Rahmadi, said the increase in ranking from the fourth position was quite significant. "This means that we are very representative for Muslim travelers, and that's good," he said in a statement, Wednesday (1/6/2022). In his assessment, friendly services and facilities for Muslim travelers is one of the main keys. Taufan reminded that the market niche for Muslim tourists is not small. The projected growth is to reach 230 million travelers, with a cash turnover of up to US$225 billion by 2028. The 2022 GMTI data shows that Muslim travelers will continue to grow with significant cash turnover. right now, with serious improvements, I believe, chasing Malaysia is not impossible," he said.
In accumulative points, Indonesia only lost to Malaysia which was in first place. He can outperform other major countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UAE, and Qatar, which are below Indonesia's rankings. As the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia plays an important role. According to Taufan, it is very natural that Indonesia is now in the top two in the world. He encouraged the government, especially the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy to continue to improve performance and fix what was still lacking. The GMTI 2022 assessment this time photographed at least three large groups of Muslim travelers. Muslim millennial travelers, Muslim female travelers, and Gen Z travelers are the main niche and Indonesia must focus on seeing the main needs of these groups. "For example, for Muslim travelers who contributed 45%, equivalent to 72 million people, for 2019 data. They prioritize privacy, facilities, and security," he said. Meanwhile, millennials like what is known as 3As, aka authentic, affordable, and accessible. Especially for Gen Z, which accounts for 20 % of total Muslim travelers, it is quite similar to the millennial group, but with the addition of being adaptable.
Taufik said that these assessment variables must continue to be studied, improve those that are still lacking, and maintain those that are more. For now, the world number two award is believed to bring more and more Muslim travelers to the country. This is because Indonesia provides all the needs of Muslim tourists with lots of halal food, easy worship, comfortable travel, and free of negative frills. Indonesia also maintains a conservative tourism market niche according to the World Economic Forum. "So we can do halal tourism, we can also enter conservative tourism," he said. This award is the third in a row, aka the hat trick of the Indonesian tourism world award. First, Indonesia, through the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno was invited by the United Nations to talk about sustainable tourism. Next, Indonesia's Travel Tourism Development Index (TTDI) rose sharply 12 levels to be ranked 32 in the world, and number two in Southeast Asia based on the World Economic Forum. The third is GMTI 2022 which puts Indonesia in second position. "When the world's view is still fixed on Indonesia, we need to improve even more after the pandemic, ensuring its recovery, along with the revival of tourism," he said. It is hoped that this will have an impact on a sustainable national recovery because the tourism sector will create a lot of jobs, generate a lot of money, so that the economy will be stronger.
