INDONESIA and Malaysia have come together to leverage each other’s expertise in developing Muslim-friendly products to draw more Muslim travellers to both destinations.

The way forward for this collaboration was discussed at a bilateral meeting between the two tourism ministries during the 43rd ASEAN NTO Meeting on Monday.

I Gde Pitana, deputy minister for international tourism marketing development, Indonesia Ministry of Tourism, highlighted a number of reasons backing the collaboration.

Pitana said: “First, although Indonesia is made up of predominantly Muslims, we still get enquiries from Malaysian Muslim travellers on whether we have halal products. The cooperation is expected to raise confidence in Indonesia as a friendly destination among these travellers.

“Secondly, Malaysia has managed to attract millions of Middle Eastern visitors while Indonesia is only getting a few hundred thousands. Middle-Eastern travellers have a month-long summer holiday and they spend an average of 10 days in Malaysia. We would like to get them to spend more time in South-east Asia by extending their stay in Indonesia.”

Ong Hong Peng, secretary general of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia, said the collaboration seeks to “find a common ground and share experience” to “strengthen each other”.

“We will start off with having common Muslim-friendly packages that will meet the expectations of Muslim tourists.”

Both ministries have identified the Middle Eastern market as a target, but will also court other sources.

A series of technical meetings involving travel trade players will follow the ministerial-level bilateral meeting on Monday.

Hamzah Rahmat, president of the Malaysia Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA), welcomes the initiative and told The Daily that “Indonesia Ministry of Tourism has already taken steps (to involve the trade) by inviting inbound operators to provide product updates on Batam”, so as to create combined packages incorporating Malaysia and Indonesia products.

Hamzah added that the Indonesian ministry will work with MATTA to conduct more fam trips to Jogjakarta, Surabaya and Padang this year.

Elly Hutabarat, PanTravel Indonesia president, said: “Developing a joint product between Indonesia and Malaysia is in line with the spirit of developing ASEAN as a single destination. We can start from (bilateral cooperation) and grow from there.”

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THE inaugural ASEAN Homestay Standards Award to be presented this Friday will honour 40 quality homestay operators from South-east Asia who will be able to use the recognition in their branding and marketing communications.

Eight ASEAN member countries, with the exception of Singapore and Myanmar, will nominate five homestay operators each for these awards, said Ong Hong Peng, Malaysian head of NTO delegation and secretary-general of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily in an interview, Ong said: “(The award) is a significant development as it shows the progress of the development of homestay standards, while sharing best practices.”

Winners will be promoted through the ASEAN tourism marketing website and social media platforms, and the efforts are expected to help homestay operators market their products and draw more local and foreign guests.

All award recipients must fulfill the ASEAN homestay standards which were established based on inputs from ASEAN NTOs, covering areas such as accommodation requirements, cleanliness in food preparation, provision of environmentally-friendly activities that do not have a negative impact on the environment, and involvement of guests in local activities.

Malaysia was appointed the lead country in 2010 for the development of the ASEAN Homestay Standards and it implemented the programme in full last year.

Homestays promote rural tourism, revitalises the rural economy, and provides additional income for the rural population.

For the first 11 months of 2015, some 64,599 international tourists visited and stayed in Malaysian homestays, of which 22,065 had come from South-east Asia.

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ASEANTA, which is expected to play a bigger role in the AEC, has mapped out several initiatives, including having a wider membership base and joining international organisations, in order to better align itself with regional and global tourism bodies.

Its president, Aileen Clemente, said that “to fully represent the travel industry”, ASEANTA has amended its by-laws to allow taking in members from recreational facilities, parks and convention centres. It has also widened its limits to include global members who have a business interest in ASEAN.

Previously, members have mainly comprised hotels, airlines, travel agencies, tour operators and NTOs within ASEAN.

The widening of ASEANTA’s membership base is in line with the goals of the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan 2016-2025 and the Visit ASEAN@50 campaign, set by the ASEAN NTOs during their meeting this week at ATF 2016 to encourage greater private sector participation.

After all, the private sector, especially ASEANTA, will be the one to come up with, push for and sell tourism products, reasoned Clemente.

“We’re hoping that as private sector partners, we are more in tune and aligned with (the government’s) marketing plans instead of just being told what to do. There’s a big difference,” she pointed out.

Clemente also said ASEANTA will be applying for membership with the UNWTO and WTTC so it “will be aligned with global tourism bodies”.

Membership is a big task that will require the studying of policies and agreements to comply with and figuring out how ASEANTA can fit themselves in, added Clemente.

The Federation of ASEAN Travel Agencies, one of the three ASEANTA sub-groups, will also seek membership in the Worldwide Summit of Presidents of Travel Agencies Association, usually held in Europe.

Other initiatives that the association is embarking on includes the presentation of the ASEANTA Special Award on Friday to Sabah Malaysia’s Ministry of Tourism and Culture for its extraordinary contribution to the tourism sector.

These initiatives are “small steps but with big impact,” said Clemente. “We don’t want to put a lot on our plate but we want to be focused and aligned (to create) greater impact.”

AS THE Muslim travel market becomes a growing force worldwide, ASEAN countries are developing new strategic directions in a bid to wrestle a bigger piece of the lucrative halal tourism pie.

This fast-growing sector is projected to grow to 150 million visitors comprising 11 per cent of the global travel economy with an expenditure of US$200 billion by 2020, according to a 2015 study by Singapore-based CrescentRating.

Halal tourism is being recognised as “an opportunity market” for the Philippines, as its sizable Muslim population as well as increasing visitor arrivals from the Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in recent years place it in a good position to attract more Muslim travellers, said Arturo P Boncato Jr, assistant secretary, tourism regulation, coordination and resource generation, at the Philippine Department of Tourism (DoT).

The DoT has joined hands with the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos to launch the Philippines Halal Tourism Project last year to improve halal facilities in the country, according to Boncato. “We are targeting at least 50 halal certified establishments in the four major regions (Manila, Cebu, Boracay and Davao) in time for Madrid Fusion Manila in April,” he commented.

Similarly, Indonesia is positioning Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) as a Muslim-friendly destination, after the Muslim-majority island was recognised as the world’s top halal tourism and honeymoon destination at the 2015 World Halal Travel Summit in Dubai.

Indonesia minister of tourism Arief Yahya said: “The awards will sharpen Lombok’s position…especially in (attracting) travellers from the Middle East and other Muslim countries.” Aceh and West Sumatra will be touted as a role model for Muslim-friendly destinations in Indonesia.

The move will expand Lombok’s visitor source markets to Muslim travellers, commented Awan Aswinabawa, advisor to the Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies NTB chapter.

“We have been getting inquiries from travellers from the neighbouring countries as well as the growing domestic market whether we have halal facilities such as restaurants and hotels,” he said. “Lombok naturally has Muslim-friendly products although not all are certified halal, so we just need to improve and highlight what we have.”

Furthermore, a halal branding will also distinguish Lombok from neighbouring Bali’s Hindu-influenced culture or East Nusa Tenggara’s Christian-dominated culture, he opined.

Hasiyanna Ashadi, president director of Marintur Indonesia, said: “It is up to the destination how far they want to apply the label, but as a tour operator, we welcome more halal facilities to widen the choices for travellers. Even Aceh, whose rule is based on the Syariah law, has eased some of the rules for non-Muslim travellers.”

Awan, however, reminded the government to balance the halal branding and not intimidate the other markets, which have been enjoying Bali. “We do not want (non-halal) markets to think that we limit ourselves to the Muslim travellers only and apply rigid (Syariah law) in the destination,” he said.

Within South-east Asia, with the exception of Myanmar and Laos, all other countries already have their own halal certification and logo, stated Nirwan Noh, undersecretary for industry development at Malaysia’s Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

Additional reporting from Mimi Hudoyo

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