Bahrain has been named in the top 20 among the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) destinations in the Global Muslim Travel Index.

The 'MasterCard-Crescent Rating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2015' saw Bahrain come 14th on the list for the OIC destinations, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Bahrain was one of seven destinations from the Middle East that made it into top 20.

Singapore came first for the non-OIC destinations, which also saw Thailand, UK, South Africa and France make the top five.

The GMTI looks at in-depth data covering 100 destinations, creating an overall index, based on a number of criteria, which included suitability as a family holiday destination, the level of services and facilities it provides, accommodation options, marketing initiatives as well as visitor arrivals.

Each criterion was then weighted to make up the overall index score for 100 destinations.

The study also revealed that last year, the segment was worth $145 billion with 108 million Muslim travellers representing 10 per cent of the entire travel economy.

Last year, Bahrain saw 2.6 million Muslim arrivals into the country which accounts for 55 per cent of the total arrivals.

The Muslim travel market is forecast to grow to 150 million visitors by 2020 and 11 per cent of the entire segment with a value projected to grow to $200 billion.

CrescentRating and HalalTrip chief executive Fazal Bahardeen said not only was it the most in-depth research undertaken so far on the Muslim travel market, but also provided all stakeholders with insight into how the halal-friendly tourism sector was developing from a global perspective.

Malaysia scored an Index score of 83.8, followed by Turkey at 73.8 while Bahrain had a GMTI of 63.6.

GMTI40, which will be updated quarterly around the year, will track the average score of the top 20 OIC and non-OIC destinations and will form the key index to monitor the performance of the Muslim travel segment.

The overall average score for 40 destinations currently stands at 56 while the overall average score for the complete 100 destinations is at 43.8. And Asia Pacific destinations lead with an average score of 54. - TradeArabia News Service