Tourists looking at the night scene of George Town from Penang Hill. The city has been given the thumbs up by Muslim travellers. ? The Malaysian Insider file pic,
November 13, 2015.George Town and Kuala Lumpur have been voted favorite cities among global Muslim travellers,with both landing in the top 10 list in a recent survey, The Star reported.
The cities came in second and ninth respectively in a poll that pit them against 40 international cities affiliated with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The Muslim Travel Shopping Index 2015 was created by MasterCard and CrescentRating, which is touted as the worlds leading authority on halal or Muslim-friendly travel.
With the inclusion of non-OIC countries, Kuala Lumpur remains at second spot but George Town, which is listed as Penang, dropped slightly to 11th place in the survey.
Dubai is the clear favourite among Muslim travellers.
Tourism Malaysia deputy director-general (Strategic and Domestic) Chong Yoke Har said the recognition for Penang and Kuala Lumpur showed that Malaysia had emerged as an appealing shopping destination.
Shopping overtook accommodation in the first half of this year with the biggest share of 29.6% or RM10 billion out of the total receipts of RM33.8 billion, The Star quoted Chong as saying during the launch of the 1Malaysia Year-End Shopping (MYES) Maps in George Town yesterday.
The four maps cover the Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya), Penang, Johor and Malacca, as well as Sabah and Sarawak.
The maps also contain information such as the Tourist Refund Scheme, which has a step-by-step guide on how foreign tourists could claim GST refunds after spending RM300 on a single receipt, Chong said.
MYES, which begins during the year-end school holidays and festive period, is supported by 758 retailers and shopping malls nationwide. It starts from November 14 to January 3. ? November 13, 2015..png)