Asia mulls the growing importance of halal tourism

Whereas halal journey is often one thing equated with the Center East, journey professionals should be conscious that it additionally applies to different components of the world, significantly South and Southeast Asia which each have sizeable Muslim populations.

Certainly, an Al-Jazeera report from February of this 12 months reveals that the halal / Muslim-friendly tourism market is anticipated to develop to US$410.9 billion by 2032, almost twice the overall seen on the finish of 2023.

Crescent Ranking, the main international authority on halal journey, additionally identified that the variety of Muslims travelling globally no matter whether or not for enterprise or leisure might hit 230 million by 2028.

This rise, in fact, relies on how quickly totally different nations can launch and implement key initiatives to draw Muslim travellers, significantly facilities that take their spiritual practices into consideration on high of their dietary necessities.

East Asia, particularly, must step up its sport, given the rising variety of Muslim travellers making their method to China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Journey Every day Media was not too long ago capable of sit down with Crescent Scores’ head of enterprise improvement and occasions Daniswara Nugroho who shared his findings and insights on how East Asia could make journey extra interesting to guests from Islamic Southeast Asia and the Center East.

Working with East Asian hospitality suppliers

Nugroho defined to us that Crescent Ranking not too long ago labored with the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) with a purpose to construct up their Muslim-friendly service ecosystem from the bottom up, an initiative which was spearheaded by the HKTB itself.

As he recollects: “We did a seminar with their stakeholders, principally the hoteliers, in addition to major venues, sights, and procuring malls all through Hong Kong. We shared crucial touchpoints with them concerning the wants of Muslim travellers.”

These in attendance at that discuss have been launched with the Crescent Ranking system which is used to guage institutions based mostly on how Muslim-friendly they’re.

Nugroho mentioned: “Alongside the way in which, we managed to fee 16 institutions in Hong Kong, and we famous that a few of them have made enhancements of their choices, particularly in the case of halal meals and the supply water in washrooms; some have even added bidets to their bathrooms.”

Nonetheless, Nugroho additionally identified that the adoption of extra Muslim-friendly practices has been sluggish in each the Macau SAR and Mainland China.

Certainly, it could nonetheless take a while for accommodations and different institutions in Macau to come back to the identical degree of halal-preparedness as their counterparts in Hong Kong.

With regard to hospitality suppliers within the Chinese language Mainland, Nugroho mentioned: “We’ve not been capable of penetrate the Chinese language market as a result of, to date, we do not have a neighborhood associate or counterpart we might truly work with. However we’re engaged on attending to the tourism boards within the nation.”

Curiously, whereas China has had ethnic Muslim areas just like the Uygur Autonomous Area of Xinjiang within the northwestern a part of the nation, it has been a problem even for organisations like Crescent Ranking to achieve traction within the nation.

Crescent Scores’ Daniswara Nugroho addresses attendees at MITE 2025 in Macau

On cruises and measures in different components of the area

In current months, regional cruises have begun to grow to be extra common amongst Asian travellers, particularly following the model refresh for Star and Dream Cruises in March of this 12 months.

When requested if regional cruise traces have been starting to undertake halal-centric practices, Nugroho replied with a powerful sure.

Nugroho defined: “We’ve labored with Resorts World Cruises [the previous brand identity for StarCruises] in Singapore, and we’ve truly rated them based mostly on how Muslim-friendly they’re. Thus far, one in every of their cruises is already Muslim-friendly.”

Certainly, some vessels like StarCruises’ Star Voyager are already outfitted with amenities like halal kitchens that supply menus particular to a Muslim clientele; throughout our protection of the Star Voyager’s maiden voyage in March, we famous that particular dishes have been supplied to such company on the applicable occasions for each iftar at sundown and suhoor earlier than daybreak.

Nugroho added: “ We’re at present (3:46) launching one other cruise in Antarctica with Albatros Expeditions, and we’re going to set plans early subsequent 12 months with them. It is going to be Muslim-friendly, so it signifies that they’ve bidets for laundry, in addition to halal meals. And, sure: they may also have a prayer room.”

Past the cruise sector, the proliferation of halal-friendly facilities is already being seen in nations just like the Philippines which has its personal Muslim inhabitants in its southern provinces, and the place resort administration corporations like Megaworld have already made vital inroads in the direction of inclusivity.

Naturally, such facilities are already out there in nations which can be predominantly Muslim like Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, with accommodations and sights providing wash areas, prayer rooms, religion-compliant menus, and even common calls to prayer inside their premises.

Nonetheless, Nugroho mentioned that there’s nonetheless a lot work to be finished: tourism-heavy nations like Thailand and Vietnam nonetheless lack a lot of the requirements required by Muslim travellers, however organisations like Crescent Ranking are already in talks with related authorities to make sure that the best measures can be set in place a while sooner or later.