(Press Release) TCTP Malaysia’s Muslim Friendly Tourism A Boom in Central Asia and the Philippines!

JICA Malaysia Office, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia and the SIRIM Academy Sdn. Bhd., will host the Third Country Training Programme (TCTP) (*) titled ‘Embracing the New Way of Tourism and Delivery by Adopting Muslim Friendly Hospitality Services’ for tourism related government officials from Central Asian countries and the Philippines from September 14 to 25, 2026. The purpose of this program is to support the promotion of Muslim Friendly Hospitality and Services in their respective countries.

The Central Asian countries consist of mostly Muslim majority countries, same as the Mindanao region in the Philippines. The number of Muslim tourists in these countries have been increasing significantly but unfortunately the formalised halal standard to accommodate such tourists are either non existence, not standardized nor promoted as required. As such the tourism sector struggles to reach its full potential and produce the kind of result the country aspires to have including significant revenues. In order to support the tourism sector achieve its full potential it is beneficial to have Muslim Friendly Hospitality Services and Standard to be implemented strategically.

To address these challenges, this Third Country Training Program (TCTP) will be conducted by SIRIM Academy Sdn Bhd a leading government related organization in Malaysia that JICA has had many years of cooperation with.

SIRIM Academy Sdn. Bhd. will host 11 trainees : 8 from Central Asian countries and 3 from the Philippines to provide training on Muslim friendly hospitality and services. At the same time, the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) in Malaysia will brief the participants on Japan’s Muslim friendly hospitality efforts on Sept. 17^th, 2026. The trainees are mostly government officials in charge of Muslim friendly hospitality/ tourism for their countries.

(*) “Third-Country Training Program (TCTP)”: A type of technical cooperation in which JICA provides financial and technical support for training programs in which one developing country hosts trainees from another developing country. The main objective of TCTP is to share the experiences of Japan and Malaysia in specific fields and to strengthen the trainees’ ability to address various challenges in their home countries. In this region, the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been implementing the Malaysia Technical Cooperation Program (MTCP) since 1980, and since 1992, the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and JICA have been jointly conducting TCTPs.

1. Program Overview

(1) Program Name :
Embracing the New Way of Tourism and Delivery by Adopting Muslim Friendly Hospitality Services Requirements

(2) Training Organizer :
SIRIM Academy Sdn. Bhd.

(3) Training dates :
September 14 to 25, 2026

(4) Training Venue :
Concorde Hotel, Shah Alam

(5) Target Countries :
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan & the Philippines

(6) Training Contents:
This training program is organized by SIRIM Academy Sdn. Bhd., the training provider to share the experiences and best practices of Malaysia and Japan regarding Muslim Friendly Serviced and Hospitality as outlined below:

(i) Muslim Friendly/ Halal Standards in Malaysia

(ii) Study Tours to Muslim Friendly Tourism institutions

(iii) Adopting Muslim friendly certification

2. Related events

Closing ceremony:
Date: September 25, 2026 (at Concorde Hotel, Shah Alam)

3. Contact details

For further information, please contact:

JICA Malaysia Office
Ms. Teoh
Tel：+60-3-2166-8900
E-mail: teohsk-ms▲jica.go.jp

JICA Malaysia Office
Ms. Aiman Siddiqi
Tel：+60-3-2166-8900
E-mail: AimanSiddiqi.MS▲jica.go.jp
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