JAKARTA: Indonesia is stepping up efforts to promote Muslim-friendly destinations across the country, as tourism officials seek to position the country as the world’s best after recently securing second place in the latest Global Muslim Travel Index.
Indonesia ranked second in this year’s Mastercard-CrescentRating GMTI, an annual report benchmarking destinations in the Muslim travel market, climbing three spots from 2025 and sharing the ranking with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, as Malaysia retained its long-standing lead.
The Ministry of Tourism “will continue to strengthen the development of Muslim-friendly tourism by improving destination readiness, service quality, accessibility, and strengthening collaboration with industry players to meet the needs of the growing global tourism market,” it said in a statement issued on Saturday.
The index cited Indonesia as “one of the strongest performers” in 2026, and highlighted recent high-tech improvements in its tourism industry that incorporate smart technology as well as artificial intelligence.
Indonesia’s climb to the second spot of the index also serves as “motivation for us to continue innovating, improving service quality, and strengthening collaboration with various global partners,” said Masruroh, senior advisor for digital transformation and tourism innovation at the tourism ministry.
Indonesian officials are also working to further strengthen its tourism through the 2026 International Islamic Expo this week, where hundreds of industry players are convening to promote various destinations and identify business opportunities in halal tourism. The annual event is scheduled to run until Sunday.
Tourism authorities are also endorsing a number of Muslim-friendly destinations at the expo, including West Sumatra, Lombok, Banten, West Java, East Java, and South Sulawesi.
“Our next target is to become number one in the world. For that reason, we will continue to boost quality service for Muslim travelers,” said Vinsensius Jemadu, an expert staff at the tourism ministry.
Indonesia joins a number of countries seeking to tap into emerging opportunities in the global Muslim travel market, which is projected to contribute 262 million international arrivals with an estimated $310 billion in annual expenditure by 2030, according to GMTI.
This number has “accelerated past previous linear forecasts,” the report said, after it reached 196 million in 2025, and is expected to hit 208 million this year.
