Indonesia Targets Top Spot as Muslim-Friendly Tourist Destination

The Welcome Dinner for the International Islamic Expo (IIE) 2026 served as a key moment in strengthening Indonesia’s position as the world’s top Muslim-friendly tourist destination. The event, held in Jakarta on Friday (26/6/2026), is part of the 16th International Islamic Expo 2026 series. This optimism is driven by Indonesia’s brilliant achievement of securing second place in the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) Awards 2026 in Singapore on Thursday (18/6/2026). This position marks a significant jump of three ranks compared to 2025, when Indonesia was in fifth place. Vinsensius Jemadu, Senior Expert in Tourism and Creative Economy at the Ministry of Tourism, revealed that Indonesia has six mainstay provinces for Muslim-friendly tourism. These areas are considered ready in terms of infrastructure, support services, and strong destination appeal for Muslim travellers. ‘Our next target is certainly to become number one in the world. To achieve this, we continue to encourage improvements in service quality for Muslim travellers, from providing halal food information and worship facilities to additional services in hotels and tourist destinations to make travellers more comfortable,’ said Vinsensius. The International Islamic Expo 2026 features 126 exhibitors, comprising 80 domestic participants and 46 international participants from 16 countries. Over the three-day event, it is targeted to generate an economic turnover of up to Rp115 billion with total visits of around 18,000 people. Vinsensius emphasised that this exhibition is not merely a halal industry event, but part of the government’s strategy to strengthen the Meeting, Incentive, Convention, and Exhibition (MICE) ecosystem. According to him, MICE tourism is a high-quality product because the spending level of its travellers is higher compared to the leisure segment. During the IIE 2026 Welcome Dinner series, tokens of appreciation were also presented to selected hajj, umrah, and halal tourism companies, associations, sponsors, and strategic partners. This appreciation is expected to strengthen collaboration in improving service quality for pilgrims and Muslim travellers in the future.