Islamic Digital Day 2022 Encourages Development of Muslim Friendly Tourism

Jakarta, MINA – The National Committee for Sharia Economics and Finance (KNEKS) held Islamic Digital Day 2022 with the theme “Towards Resilience and Sustainable Tourism” on Wednesday in a hybrid way, offline in Jakarta and online on the KNEKS Youtube channel.

Islamic Digital Day 2022 was held to encourage the development of Muslim-friendly tourism and launch a guide for Muslim tourists in five favorite destinations, including: Lake Toba, Borobudur, Mandalika, Likupang, and Labuan Bajo. In addition, this event also discussed the role of digitalization and its development in encouraging the rise of the tourism sector, especially Muslim-friendly tourism.

The forum was opened by an opening speech from the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Uno and this event attended by ministries, institutions, associations, academics, and tourism industry business actors.

Sandiaga Uno in his opening speech said, Indonesia has target to be in the first position in the Global Muslim Traveler Index (GMTI) in 2023.

“Indonesia, as country with the largest Muslim population in the world should be a key player in the halal and sharia industry ecosystem, not just a potential market,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Director of the Halal Product Industry of KNEKS, Afdhal Aliasar, said information disclosure is really needed in order to support the readiness of facilities and infrastructure to match with market demand and operational capacity of Muslim Friendly Tourism.

If the tourism industry actors are interested in making their tourist destinations to be Muslim-friendly tourism, then their destinations will be visited by so many visitors from various cultures and beliefs.

Indonesia should be prepared to become a leader of the world’s Muslim-friendly tourism. It is extended services to attract Muslim tourists, both local and international that not only promoting clean, healthy, safe and comfortable destinations, but also providing the convenience for finding places of worship, halal-certified culinary, halal product souvenirs, and sharia-compliant and family-friendly hotels/inns.

This forum focused on reviews of policies in the development strategy of the halal culinary industry held in two panel discussion sessions.

The theme of the discussion was “The Rise of the Indonesian Tourism Industry” and “The Role of Marketplaces and Fintech in the Tourism Industry Recovery in Indonesia”. The speakers in the discussion were practitioners, business and industry actors, influencers, and other stakeholders

The speakers of the first session were Rizki Handayani, Deputy for Tourism Products and Activities Organizers of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Riyanto Sofyan Chairman of the Indonesian Halal Tourism Association, Mr Fazal Bahardeen CEO of Halal Trip and the speaker of the second session were Ms. Yuana Rochma, Director of Digital Economy Governance at the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Ronald Wijaya CEO of Ethis, Fajar Rizki CEO Tukang.com. (T/ri/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)