Indonesia’s Bali is a beautiful island. But Lombok, its neighbor, is less spoilt. Emaar, Dubai’s giant property developer, agrees. It plans to build a resort on Lombok. Of course, the resort will cater to big spending Americans and Europeans. But it will also cater to Muslims from all parts of the Silk Road. Why? It’s big money these days.
Indonesia has so far struggled to attract Muslim tourists in spite of its status as the world’s largest Muslim country. It’s missing out. Muslim tourists have started travelling to countries more sympathetic to Islam since September 2001. The number of Arabs travelling to Egypt, for instance, has surged in the past few years. Today, it’s the Pyramids, not Disneyland.
