U.S. Tourism From Muslim Countries Was Increasing, Then Trump Came In
Photo Credit: More than 121 million Muslim travelers went abroad in 2016. CrescentRating
Skift Take
Muslim travelers are one of the largest visitor markets for the U.S. but few brands are marketing to them and taking their needs into account. U.S. travel and airline laptop bans create confusion and mixed messages.
From a U.S. travel ban impacting six Muslim-majority countries and populist sentiments sweeping Europe, many Muslim travelers aren't sure what to expect at airports or in destinations in either region.
But while the U.S. and Europe often present big challenges for Muslim travelers, there are global improvements in Muslim-friendly travel offerings, including the availability of halal meals.
In other developments, Muslim arrivals to the U.S. reached a record high in 2016 -- before the travel bans.
That's according to MasterCard and CrescentRating's 2017 Global Muslim Travel Index, which gave the U.S., for example, an overall index score (0 to 100) of 48.6 for 2016 while the global index score average for 130 countries in the index was 45.9. For 2015, the overall global index score was 43.7 while the U.S. scored slightly higher at 48.9.
Still, CrescentRating's global index score for safety and locals' attitudes toward Muslim travelers has been declining for the past two year
