LOMBOK "INDONESIA" BEST WORLD DESTINATION MUSLIM TRAVELLER

LOMBOK IS THE BEST DESTIONATION FOR MUSLIM TRAVELLER

Oke soo - I take off at every opportunity I can, be it with family, friends or alone, exploring, photographing and documenting interesting stuff in exotic destinations and taking the odd selfie to make friends jealous along the way (actually I rarely go to exotic destinations and am still struggling to work the ‘selfie’ feature on my phone – although my wife and daughters are usually on hand should the need arise!).

But as a Muslim Travel Writer living in challenging times, I’ve come to see travel in a completely different light; as an education and spiritually transformative experience. I also now understand why travel is encouraged by Islam – why else would we be able to collapse our prayers? But what I don’t understand is the lack of Muslims willing to travel. And before you bombard me with your messages and selfies from Dubai and Sharm, let’s just make clear that a package holiday to a touristic location geared to all your expectations and creature comforts is not ‘travel’. That would be a holiday. I believe all Muslims should really travel, the proper independent stuff and here are eleven reasons why (beyond just being able to collapse our daily prayers – so technically that’s 12!)

So this time I will tell and suggest you to come in second suggest of the muslim travelers one city in my country is Lombok.

Why must Lombok?!

Just a short hop from the Indonesian holiday hotspot of Bali, a Saudi tourist and his family listen to the call to prayer as the sun goes down on Lombok, the self-styled “island of 1,000 mosques”.

Lombok is at the centre of an Islamic tourism drive in Indonesia, which has the world’s biggest Muslim population and is hoping to boost the number of visitors from wealthy Middle Eastern countries.

While aiming to continue to attract Western tourists who flock to its pristine beaches, the island is also seeking to promote its Islamic heritage, from numerous places of worship to shrines dedicated to ancient Muslim preachers.

Indonesia is the world’s biggest archipelago nation, made up of more than 17,000 islands, but has long lagged behind smaller, more developed countries in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Thailand, in attracting tourists.

Foreign visitor arrivals to Indonesia rose to 8.8m in 2013, according to official figures, compared with 25.72m in Malaysia and 26.55m in Thailand.

While there are no official figures for “sharia” tourism in Indonesia, the sector is experiencing strong growth internationally.

The government has produced tourist guides promoting Indonesia as a “Muslim friendly destination”. It highlights the country’s best “sharia” tourism destinations and notes there are more than 600,000 mosques in the archipelago.

Lombok, long overshadowed by its better known neighbour, Hindu-majority Bali, hopes the drive can help raise its profile.

Authorities are planning to build a huge Islamic centre that will contain a mosque, a hotel and a study centre, and specially trained tour guides will point Muslim visitors in the direction of the nearest mosque at prayer time.

Other parts of Indonesia are hoping to benefit from the initiative. Aceh province, in western Indonesia and the only part of the country to enforce Islamic sharia laws, and the capital Jakarta are both seeking to lure Middle Eastern tourists, who often bring many family members with them and spend lavishly.

Riyanto Sofyan owns a chain of nine sharia hotels across Indonesia, including two in Jakarta.

Alcohol-free cocktails are available, the call to prayer is played five times a day through the buildings, MTV has been removed from the list of TV channels available in the rooms, as it is deemed too risque, and hotel staff gently turn away unmarried couples.

In Lombok, hotels are also promoting themselves as Islamic, with nine so far having gained coveted sharia certification. Echoing the system of stars for conventional hotels, sharia accommodation is labelled with the crescent moon, a symbol associated with Islam, with the best receiving three.

A hotel must have signs pointing towards Mecca and copies of the Koran in its rooms, as well as a kitchen where halal food can be prepared, to gain its first crescent moon.

Despite the optimism of officials, there are concerns that the push for Islamic tourism could put off other visitors who want to sunbathe in skimpy outfits and relax on the beach with a drink.

But the local government insists it can promote sharia tourism without affecting the existing industry, and that party hotspots in the area - such as tiny Gili Trawangan island, off the west coast of Lombok - will remain unaffected.

Authorities are considering clearly demarcating areas more suited to Muslim guests, where Western tourists should cover up.

Nevertheless for some Muslims, the clash of cultures may still be off-putting. While Sulaiman, who comes from Mecca, was enjoying his holiday in Senggigi, the main tourist strip on Lombok, some aspects made him feel uneasy.

Others had concerns about trying to artificially separate Muslim and non-Muslim tourists.American tourist Sarah Jorgensen, who was visiting Lombok, warned such a move could lead to tensions: “When you create borders then you have more opportunity for discrimination.”

 Maybe that i can share to you about muslim traveller in lombok, so enought for today, thanks for read my article, sorry for the words and i hope you will leave a comment and share it..