PUTRAJAYA, 19 FEBRUARY 2013: Malaysia retains its first-place position as the most Halal/Muslim-friendly holiday destination in Crescentrating’s Halal Friendly Travel (CRaHFT) Ranking 2013, under the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) category for a third straight year.

The list was compiled by a Singapore-based company, Crescentrating Pte Ltd, the pioneer and world leader in the development of the halal-friendly travel market segment worldwide.

The ranking criteria for being the top halal friendly destination for 2013 was based on the level of halal food availability, halal certified restaurants, prayer facilities and halal friendly accommodation at the main tourist spots of the destination. Malaysia scored 8.3 out of 10 points.

In a report released by Crescentrating Pte Ltd, Malaysia was noted “Malaysia tops our list for the third year running. It also remains the top destination for Muslim holidaymakers. It is still the best place to enjoy your holiday and at the same time be completely worry free when it comes to finding halal food and prayer places almost everywhere.”

Malaysia was followed by Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Indonesia, Morocco, Jordan, Brunei and Qatar make up the remaining destinations in the top 10 under the OIC category.

In the top 10 halal-friendly non-OIC category, Singapore was on top of the list followed by Bosnia & Herzegovina, Thailand, South Africa, India, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Australia, Germany and Hong Kong.

For a more in-depth look at the Ranking of Halal Friendly Holiday Destinations for 2013 and their scores, please visit www.crescentrating.com.

BACKGROUNDER

The Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia, established the Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC) in 2009 to assist the Ministry in undertaking tourism strategic research on market intelligence as well as providing training and capacity building services relating to Islamic Tourism.

Some of the activities carried out by ITC last year included doing various research on Islamic tourism with local universities; organising training courses under the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) for foreign participants; organising tourism seminars for the third world countries with the  cooperation of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); organising  Regional Seminar on Islamic Tourism entitled Developing the Islamic Tourism Trail at various states, preparing a draft blueprint on the Islamic tourism development strategies; working together with Brunei to develop Islamic Tour Experience holiday packages involving both local and Brunei tour operators; and participating in Islamic World Trade Expo 2012 in Kelantan.

This year, ITC plans to cooperate with Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines in organising seminars or workshops on the development of Islamic tourism and also develop guidelines for the Islamic tourism sector in an effort to improve its products and services.

Malaysia registered an estimated 5.44 million Muslim tourists (equivalent to 21.75% out of the total tourist arrivals to Malaysia) in 2012 compared to 5.22 million in 2011.

For more information on Islamic Tourism Centre, please visit http://www.itc.gov.my.

For further information on Crescentating, please contact:
Crescentrating Pte. Ltd.
Tel.:+65 6304 8020,
E-Mail: info@crescentrating.com
Web: www.crescentrating.com