The Halal and Muslim-friendly tourism market is predicted to develop to $410.9bn by 2032, up from $256.5bn in 2023, in accordance with business predictions, with fashionable vacationer locations launching numerous initiatives to money in on the rise in demand.
Worldwide Muslim vacationer arrivals within the first half of 2024 have been listed at 80 million, in accordance with Crescent Ranking, which mentioned the steep rise is about to proceed and figures may attain 230 million by 2028.
Trade specialists say the worldwide Islamic Halal financial system, which incorporates investments in addition to tourism amongst others, is about to succeed in $7.7 trillion this 12 months, greater than double the $3.2 trillion in 2015 and considerably larger than the $5.7 trillion it was valued at in 2021.
What’s Halal tourism?
Halal is an Arabic time period that means “permitted” and extends to extra than simply meals.
Halal, or Muslim-friendly, tourism would cowl the whole lot from halal meals, prayer services, availability of water in bathrooms for laundry and ablution, gender segregation choices, in addition to an setting and expertise free from “forbidden” acts, together with alcohol and playing.
Why was there a necessity for halal tourism choices?
“Muslim leisure travellers have related motivations to others. They wish to expertise the tradition of their vacation spot,” Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of Crescent Ranking, informed Al Jazeera.
“The important thing distinction is that they search to take pleasure in these experiences with out compromising their primary faith-based wants. It’s not only a type of non secular tourism.”
A report by Crescent Ranking predicts that the Muslim journey market is predicted to succeed in $300bn by 2026, serving as “a strategic alternative for locations and operators to attach with a rising viewers”.
Is the Muslim-friendly tourism market spreading?
AbdulMaalik Tailor, CEO and founding father of Halal Tourism Britain, reckons Halal tourism “is an untapped market that has potential”.
“Initially, Muslim travellers would solely do non secular pilgrimages or go to ‘again dwelling’,” he informed Al Jazeera. “However because the neighborhood grew, particularly the youthful generations with their surplus spend, it turned obvious that their wants needed to be catered for.”
Bahardeen says many fashionable vacationer locations at the moment are “recognising this potential and enhancing their choices to be extra inclusive”.
Whereas Malaysia and Thailand are among the many hottest locations, different fashionable ones embrace Singapore, United Kingdom, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand.
In July final 12 months, Thailand unveiled a halal industry action plan aimed toward selling native merchandise and bolstering business requirements. The nation set its hopes on the rising halal business to assist enhance to its tourism-reliant financial system, which has struggled because the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a 4M enhance in Muslim vacationers in 10 years, Thailand has opened its first Halal lodge. pic.twitter.com/kPETOFWnEF
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 24, 2017
In November, the Hong Kong Tourism Board launched an initiative to “drive improvement of Muslim-friendly tourism services to raise customer experiences”.
In a press release despatched to Al Jazeera, it mentioned it wished to “encourage eating places, inns, points of interest, venues, and different institutions to assessment their Muslim-friendliness, whereas selling the significance of Halal certification among the many commerce”, sharing a listing of inns, eating places and points of interest that had obtained the required certification.
Since 2019, Taiwan has constantly been amongst locations ranked extremely by Crescent Ranking whereas the Philippines retained its title as an rising Muslim-friendly vacation spot for the second straight 12 months in 2024.
Final 12 months, the Philippines’s Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco mentioned the tourism division “recognises the importance and potential of Halal tourism in contributing to the expansion and variety of our tourism business”.
“Catering to the wants of Muslim travellers by way of improvement of Halal tourism is essential in making certain that we increase our competitiveness within the international tourism market,” she added.
Zanzibar hosted a Halal Tourism Exhibition final 12 months, hoping to draw not solely funding but additionally curiosity. A Zanzibar tourism official informed Al Jazeera that the transfer may even assist enhance companies that have been already providing such initiatives.
Tailor, of Halal Tourism Britain, mentioned the “enhance in non-Muslim nations catering to Halal tourism exhibits a optimistic development out there’s progress”.
What’s contributing to the rise in Halal tourism?
Whereas the rise in Muslim inhabitants progress stays an element that has pushed the demand larger, in accordance with Tailor, one other main purpose is the rising center class with disposable earnings that’s wishing to journey extra.
“Extra locations, whether or not Muslim or non-Muslim, have gotten conscious of the potential and are actively advertising and marketing themselves as such to create totally different experiences,” he mentioned.
“We additionally must recognise that the age we live in, the narrative will be informed now by Muslim influencers and Muslim manufacturers making the most of it too, while recognising that non-Muslims who could determine as Halal travellers are more and more wishing to have the shared experiences.”
Roughly 70 % of the worldwide Muslim inhabitants is aged under 40.
Crescent Ranking predicts that “by 2034, the Muslim inhabitants will expertise substantial will increase within the center age teams [21-30 and 31-40], that are key journey demographic segments attributable to their financial exercise and journey propensity”.
Bahardeen says he has been a part of the business for the final 16 years, and “the adjustments in halal tourism have been profound”.
“After we began, it was a distinct segment idea with restricted consciousness. As we speak, it’s extensively recognised throughout the journey business, with whole segments devoted to accommodating Muslim travellers. The extent of consciousness, innovation, and funding on this sector has developed considerably.”
