Muslim-Friendly Tourism in Australia: Challenges and Prospects

In recent years, the Muslim travel market is seen as an untapped and potential market by tourism destinations around the world, both OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) countries, and non-OIC destinations. Muslim spending on tourism has increased from US$58 billion to US$102 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow by 50.0% in 2022 to US$154 billion and reach US$189 billion in 2025 at a 4-year CAGR of 16.5% [1]. Australia is one of the countries that have begun introducing itself as a Muslim-friendly tourism destination and has gained recognition in the Muslim travel market over the years and has successfully secured the 10^th position among the non-OIC destinations in the global Muslim Travel Index 2022 rankings, [2]. As a tourism destination, Australia has been competitive for many decades on the global stage in attracting inbound tourists from a variety of countries and cultures [3]. This paper examines the challenges, and prospects regarding Muslim-friendly tourism in Australia and provide recommendations for developing this lucrative sector in Australia. The literature review and other document reviews have been undertaken in this study.