According to a new report from MasterCard and CrescentRating, Malaysia topped on a list of the worlds’ 10 most Muslim female-friendly countries. The joint report says Malaysia is the world’s most welcoming country for female Muslim solo-travelers. Solo holidays and solo traveling are quite popular among younger Muslim women.

Published on Thursday, October 17 the Mastercard-CrescentRating report had evaluated survey responses from about 3,300 Muslim women, mostly from South-east Asia claiming to be the first in the world to look at the Muslim female travel market.

It ranked first among the top 10 Muslim female-friendly countries in the world. UAE, Turkey, Indonesia, and Japan rounding out the top five with Malaysia being on top. Singapore came in sixth place, followed by South Korea, Australia, the UK, and Brunei.

The reason that Malaysia grabbed the top position as it has numerous key features easily available in the country that women specifically looked out for, such as halal food, female prayer rooms, single-gender spas, pools, beaches, beauty salons, the report said. Other features that made Malaysia stand out was Islamic heritage tours, suhoor and iftar arrangements in hotels during Ramadan, and clean toilets with water to perform wudhu, a ritual wash done before prayer.

According to the report, the female Muslims were one of the fastest-growing segments in the global travel market with digitization, rising incomes, better education irrespective of gender and promoting traveling aspiration amongst the youth. The survey states that a Muslim woman on average takes 2-3 holidays a year.

The report also added that about 30 percent of the 65 million journeys taken by the world’s Muslim women last year were solo holidays done mainly by younger women. Over half of female Muslims used social media to research for the accommodation, itinerary and food options before traveling, with 65 percent choosing independent travel over a guided tour.