Kazakhstan among world's Top 20 Muslim friendly destinations

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Kazakhstan is ranked 17th in the Global Muslim Travel Index, the most comprehensive index to monitor the overall performance of Halal/Muslim travel, tourism and hospitality industry comprised by MasterCard-CrescentRating. 

The index covers 130 destinations and compares suitability as a family holiday destination, the level of services and facilities it provides, accommodation options, marketing initiatives, air connectivity and visitor arrivals.



In the 2017 GMTI Kazakhstan outperformed such countries as Thailand, Japan, France, the U.S., China and Belgium.

Kazakhstan is the highest ranked CIS member state in the index. Azerbaijan landed the 24th spot followed by Kyrgyzstan at №25 and Tajikistan at №26. Coming in 30th place is Uzbekistan. Russia sits in the middle of the index at №44. Georgia is placed 59th. Ukraine is almost at the bottom of the index at №116.

Malaysia dominates the index for three consecutive years. Coming in second is the UAE. Indonesia and Turkey are placed 3rd and 4th respectively. Saudi Arabia rounds out the top 5.

The Muslim travel market is forecast to grow up to 156 million travelers and $220 billion by 2020.