Indonesia Climbs to Second Place as World’s Best Muslim-Friendly Travel Destination

SINGAPORE, Jakartaweekly.com —Indonesia has achieved a new milestone in its tourism sector, securing second place as Muslim-Friendly Destination of The Year in the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) Awards 2026. This marks a significant jump of three positions compared to last year, when Indonesia ranked fifth.

The award was received directly by the Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Bayu Aji, who represented Tourism Minister Widiyanti Putri Wardhana at the ceremony held at the Balestier Ballroom, Aloft Singapore Novena, recently.

In his remarks, Bayu described the achievement as evidence of Indonesia’s strengthening position on the global stage as an increasingly competitive Muslim-friendly travel destination.

“In this year’s ranking, Indonesia has successfully climbed three positions compared to last year, when we were placed fifth in 2025,” Bayu Aji said.

He claimed that Indonesia’s improved ranking in the GMTI 2026 list reflects the government’s sustained efforts to strengthen the country’s Muslim-friendly tourism ecosystem.

“On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia, I would like to express our appreciation to CrescentRating and Mastercard for organizing GMTI 2026. Indonesia has secured second place as Muslim-Friendly Destination of The Year, up from fifth position last year,” he stated.

Bayu explained that GMTI assesses destinations using the ACES framework—Access, Communication, Environment, and Services—comprising 17 evaluation indicators.

The Access component covers connectivity, visa facilitation, and transportation infrastructure. Communication focuses on language accessibility, destination promotion, and stakeholder awareness of Muslim-friendly tourism services. Environment assesses safety, sustainability, and the availability of essential utilities.

Meanwhile, Services evaluates supporting facilities such as prayer spaces, halal food availability, airport services, Muslim-friendly accommodation, and Islamic heritage-based tourism experiences.

In this year’s ranking, Indonesia recorded a score of 79. According to Bayu, the result reflects Indonesia’s consistency in building inclusive, high-quality, and globally competitive tourism services.

He added that several government initiatives contributed to this improvement. These include strengthening halal certification for micro and small enterprises in tourism villages, developing 15 Muslim-friendly tourism destinations through the Indonesia Muslim Travel Index (IMTI) 2025 in collaboration with Bank Indonesia, and enhancing destination promotion via the Indonesia.travel platform.

In addition, the government has also developed basic service guidelines for Muslim-friendly tourism and technical directives for destination development, serving as references for regional governments and industry players in building services tailored to Muslim travelers’ needs.

Bayu emphasized that the government remains committed to improving the quality and competitiveness of national tourism destinations in order to reclaim the top position in the coming years.

“We are optimistic that we can regain the title of Muslim-Friendly Destination of The Year next year,” he said.