Indonesia Eyeing to Enhance Halal Tourism by 45 Percent

Muslim community takes a tarawih prayer on the first night of Ramadan at Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, Aceh, May 16, 2018. ANTARA/Irwansyah Putra

Muslim community takes a tarawih prayer on the first night of Ramadan at Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, Aceh. ANTARA/Irwansyah Putra

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Indonesian tourism ministry continues to provide technical guidance and workshops for 10 halal tourist destinations in hopes to boost Indonesia’s rank as the top destination for halal tourism.

“The goal in 2019 is to have Indonesia rank first as the most hospitable destination for Muslim tourists according to the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI),” said Tourism Ministry Arief Yahya upon launching the Indonesia Muslim Travel Index (IMTI) today, Feb. 13, at Balairung Soesilo Soedarman in Jakarta.

The technical guidance program and workshop is run by the halal tourism development acceleration team, Crescentrating.com, and HalalTrip.com.

The 10 regions set to receive IMTI 2019 technical guidance are Aceh, Riau Islands, West Sumatra, Jakarta, West Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, Lombok, and South Sulawesi.

Minister Arief said that the country’s halal tourism growth this year is hoped to reach 42 percent from 3.5 million to 5 million, which is 25 percent of the total tourism goal of 20 million this year.

BRAM SETIAWAN (CONTRIBUTOR)

Translator: Ricky Mohammad Nugraha Editor: Laila Afifa