Lombok Chosen as Indonesian Best Halal Travel Destination

Jakarta, MINA – Indonesian Muslim Travel Index (IMTI) in the 2019 reported Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province was chosen as the best halal tourism destination in Indonesia with the highest score reaching 70.

“2019 IMTI show an increase in scores of 10 Indonesian tourist destinations,” said Fazal Bahardeen, CEO Crescent Rating and HalalTrip when delivering 2019 IMTI report at Indonesian Ministry of Tourism Office, Monday.

According to IMTI, there are 10 leading Indonesian halal tourist destinations, namely Lombok, Aceh, Riau and Riau Islands, Jakarta, West Sumatra, West Java, Yogyakarta, Central Java, East Java (Malang) and surrounding areas, South Sulawesi and surrounding areas have average value 55.

Meanwhile, in IMTI 2018, 10 leading destinations recorded the highest score just 58 obtained by Lombok and the lowest destination of South Sulawesi (Makassar) of 30.

IMTI 2019 refers to the standard Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) which adopts 4 criteria, including; Access, Communication, Environment, and Services (ACES).

“Each criterion consists of three components; for Access consists of; visa requirements, air connectivity, transport infrastructure; Communication (outreach, ease of communication, and digital presence); Environment (safety and culture, visitor arrivals, and enabling climate). While the services component consists of core needs (halal food and prayers); core services (hotels, airports), and unique experiences, “he said.

Director of Halal Tourism Acceleration Team, Riyanto Sofyan, said that Kemenpar cooperates with Mastercard and CrescentRating to make Indonesian halal tourism performance of assessment standards with reference to GMTI global standards since 2015.

“The establishment of IMTI began in 2018, while the IMTI 2019 is the second year in implementing GMTI global standards to assess the performance of leading halal tourism destinations in Indonesia,” he said.

The award of IMTI 2019 will be given to 10 halal tourist destinations which were held at the 2019 Wonderful Indonesia Halal Tourism Meeting and Conference event which took place at Bidakara Hotel Jakarta, Tuesday afternoon. (L/Sj/R04)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)