Muslim travellers to Japan is projected to more than triple by 2020, with the estimated 300,000 visitors last year to reach one million, according to latest figures by CrescentRating.

The leading authority on halal/Muslim friendly travel segment pointed out that the annual average growth rate from 2004 to last year was 7.2 per cent.

The highest growth of 47 per cent was seen in 2012, followed by 29 per cent in 2013, while the next seven-year average is projected to be 18.7 per cent, said a statement.

South East Asia will remain the key source market for Japan accounting for 65 to 70 per cent of the total Muslim visitors, it said.

The top three source markets were Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore last year, it said.
 
Presenting the latest findings at the Japan Halal Summit held in Tokyo recently, Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating, attributed this to the increasing efforts by the Japanese travel industry to cater to the needs of Muslim travellers, in addition to opening up visa free travel for Indonesians and Malaysians.

“Even at one million visitors, it will only represent around five per cent of total visitors to Japan. Globally, the Muslim travel market will represent around 13.5 per cent in 2020. As such, Japan still has huge potential to capture more visitors from this travel segment,” said Fazal.

Mohammad Zubair, general secretary of the Halal Development Foundation Japan, the organiser of the summit, said: "This shows that the efforts to develop this segment by both the private sector and the government is already beginning to benefit the travel industry here. This will help Japan reach it’s target of 20 Million visitors in 2020”
 
More and more cities across Japan are developing services and facilities to attract this segment.  Japan made the biggest improvement in CrescentRating’s 2014 Annual ranking of Muslim Friendly Holiday destination, said the statement.

In CrescentRating’s recent survey, Australia, South Korea and Japan were the top three non-OIC destinations that South East Asian Muslim travellers were looking for travel packages, it added. - TradeArabia News Service