Several foreign tourists wearing clothing covering their aurat (body parts required by Islam to be covered) when entering Baiturrahman Great Mosque of Aceh. (doc.klikkabar)
JAKARTA, NETRALNEWS.COM – Based on the study by the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Tourist Index (GMTI) 2017 officially released in Jakarta, Indonesia ranks third in the Muslim tourism market sector (halal tourism) for a number of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and non-OIC destinations.
Indonesia’s position is up one rank from the previous year. The leader of the halal tourism market for this year (ranks first and second) is still held by Malaysia and United Arab Emirates.
Associated with the released results, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said that one of the main obstacles to attract Muslim tourists to the country is halal certification issue. According to Arief, there are still several places to eat that do not have halal certification.
“Halal certification issue becomes one weakness [hindrance] of Muslim tourists visiting Indonesia, especially for those who want to enjoy halal tourism. Although they need a halal certification. This obviously becomes home works for us to continue to socialize it,” said Arief in GMTI 2017, at the Pullman Hotel, Jakarta, Wednesday (05/03/2017).
Not only about certification, the weakness of halal tourism in the country is also caused by the lack of promotion. “Simply put, I use the 4P formula. We have a good product, we have a good Price, but we are not good at Promotion sector. We are not good at promoting, including halal tourism, in fact Tourism Ministry has set 10 halal destinations,” said Arief.
For halal tourism, Arief said the ministry is currently developing it in three priority provinces namely West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), West Sumatra and Aceh.
“Of the three developing provinces, the one with best capital and whose results are visible is NTB, Lombok. The growth is 50 percent and the total occupant is 80 percent there. So it’s now a prime destination for halal tourism,” added Arief. (*)
