Three ASEAN countries finished in the top-10 of last year’s Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2018 in a strong acknowledgement of the region’s reputation as an Islamic tourism hub. Malaysia topped the index for the eighth straight year, finishing ahead of Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates and cementing its position in the global Islamic tourism market.

Earlier this year, the Lao government had targeted to attract around 5 million tourists and earn around US$900 million this year. Unfortunately, recent local reports quoted Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Bosengkham Vongdala as telling a parliament’s session that the goal may not be realised this year. In the first half of the year, the figure seemed hopeful enough at 2.1 million.

Last year, when speaking about the drop in his country’s tourism sector, an unnamed government official suggested that Lao PDR should attempt to put more effort into attracting tourists from Muslim countries in the region. He said that by providing prayer rooms in public places along with promoting halal (permissible or lawful in traditional Islamic law) restaurants, the country would be more welcoming to Muslim visitors.