Halal Tourism for Muslims

Halal tourism is geared towards Muslims that abide by Sharia rules. When it comes to tourism that is strictly meant for Muslims, the once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Makkah in Saudi Arabia still comes to mind to most people. It is an obligatory pilgrimage that is worth billions of US dollars annually, in fact it is such a huge hit that the huge hills had to be removed so as to create more space for the Grand Mosque’s compound, which was becoming too small to cater to the growing number of people to the area. Halal tourism is expected to grow to $200bn in 2020, so what does this mean to the tourism sector?

A number of companies are seeing the potential of this sector and are going out of their way not to be left out in its growth. A number of Muslims, especially those from wealthy countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have petrodollars to spend, and tend to make the trips in families, which are large in nature. This means that while choosing a tourism destination, they are careful of exactly where they will take their family, they prefer places which are nonalcoholic in nature, have halal-friendly hotels and restaurants as well as mosques for prayers.

As a full package, a halal tourism should provide for flights that do not serve any alcohol or pork products, where religious programs are broadcast as part of the entertainment that is offered on board and where prayer timings are announced. In regard to this, a halal startup airline is the way to go, according to the Euromonitor International report that was released at the World Travel Market in 2007 in London. This airline would provide halal food, it would have the Qur’an in seat pockets, provide separate sections for male and female travelers as well as have prayer calls.

A number of countries, that are being awakened by the Muslim tourist boom, is especially eyeing the Gulf countries of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. The reason being that although Muslims from these countries represent a mere three percent of the global Muslim population, they accounted for 37 percent of Muslim tourist spending in 2011. Hotels facilities in non-Muslim countries are striving to create a more friendly atmosphere for Muslim tourists, this can be seen from the prayer direction signs(Qibla) that are set up in the hotel rooms as well as the number of Muslim staff that are hired on the facilities. Zurich-based Kempinski, which is the oldest luxury hotel chain in Europe, is building about 30 hotels in collaboration with the Islamic company Guidance Financial Group, these hotels are set to be completed by 2015, they were branded as Shaza and are set to open in the gulf region, Northern Africa and Europe.

As they say, the sky is the limit, and as the number of wealthy Muslims in Muslim-majority countries, in particular those in the US and Western Europe grows, so will the Halal tourism.

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