Asia Travel Trends in Focus: Halal Tourism

In December 2017, Check-in Asia published 10 Key Trends in Asian Travel & Tourism, analysing the sectors and segments likely to dominate in 2018. Ranked at #6 was Make Room for the MMTs, referencing the aspirational generation of Muslim Millennial Travellers, which accounted for 36% of the Muslim travel market in 2016, and are predicted to spend USD100 billion annually by 2025.

Ahead of this week’s ITB Asia show in Singapore, which features the annual Halal in Travel Summit, Check-in Asia caught up with Fazal Bahardeen, Founder and CEO of Singapore-based CrescentRating, a leading global authority on halal travel.

CrescentRating provides training and accreditation for hotels and destinations regarding their Halal-friendly services, and publishes the annual Global Muslim Travel Index, in partnership with Mastercard. It has also hosted the Halal in Travel Summit at ITB Asia since 2016, plus the spin-off events in Berlin, Istanbul, Tokyo and KL.

“Muslim Millennial Travellers accounted for 36% of the 121 million Muslim travellers in 2016.”

In recognition of the rising influence of Halal travel – which is projected to be worth USD220 billion by 2020 – this week’s ITB Asia will feature a dedicated Muslim Travel Pavilion. Its daily seminars and discussions will range from Catering to Muslim Travellers at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics to The Next Shift in the Muslim Travel Market, plus contributions by Cape Town Tourism and Tourism Western Australia.

Hotels & Halal Services

As the travel industry gears up to enhance its understanding of Muslim tourism, we wonder how the hotel sector is responding?

“Generally, the hotel industry has not reacted fast enough in the last few years to developments in Muslim travel, but that does seem to be changing in the past 6-12 months. Hotels, in general, are starting to look more seriously at their engagement with Muslim travellers,” says Fazal Bahardeen.

“Generally, the hotel industry has not reacted fast enough in the last few years to developments in Muslim travel.”

He notes two key drivers. Firstly, boutique and small independent hotels have spotted an opportunity to focus on the Halal travel market. Secondly, driven by pure demand, the major hotels are now looking at how they can better service the large and diversifying Muslim market.

Halal Destination Marketing

Destinations are, however, taking a strategic approach. In Asia, Fazal Bahardeen cites Korea, Japan, Taiwan as being “the most aggressive destinations in promoting themselves as Muslim-friendly.”

“Korea, Japan and Taiwan have become very reliant on China as their primary tourism source market, so they are all trying to diversify their visitor base.”

“Korea, Japan and Taiwan have become very reliant on China as their primary tourism source market, so they are all trying to diversify their visitor base, and an obvious target is Indonesia and Malaysia, which offer large growth potential and are majority-Muslim markets. Japan is also hosting the Olympics in 2020, and wants to use the Games as a tourism showcase for international travellers.”

In South East Asia, Singapore and Malaysia – which both count populations of Muslim travellers – are relatively experienced Halal-aware destinations, although both will need to adapt to developments over the coming years, particularly as Muslim Millennial Travellers grow more influential.

“Indonesia is taking stragetic steps to attract 3.8 million inbound Muslim travellers in 2018, rising to 5 million in 2019.”

Indonesia, too, is taking strategic steps to raise its appeal. As the world’s largest Muslim population nation, it aims to attract 3.8 million inbound Muslim travellers in 2018, rising to 5 million in 2019. The nation’s capital Jakarta is increasing its range of Halal travel products and services in partnership with tourism authorities and local universities with the aim of being a leading regional Halal destination by 2020.

Emerging destinations are also raising their game. “I was in Uzbekistan last month talking to the Tourism Ministry, and they are providing new guidelines to hotels to push them to step up their engagement with Muslim travellers,” says Fazal Bahardeen.

Other countries are still lagging behind, however, and there is “still a lot of education and awareness raising to be done,” says Fazal Bahardeen.

“Often, players in the travel industry don’t fully appreciate the potential of Muslim travel in their own country.”

“Often, players in the travel industry don’t fully appreciate the potential of Muslim travel in their own country, and, even if they do, they tend to be concerned about perceptions of religious-based tourism,” Fazal Bahardeen adds. “So, a lot of our work is about steering them towards the community side of travel. There are plenty of opportunities in this aspect, because Muslim travellers tend to be very community minded, and like to engage with the local communities that they visit.”

The post Asia Travel Trends in Focus: Halal Tourism appeared first on Check in Asia.