Asia mulls the growing importance of halal tourism

While halal journey is usually one thing equated with the Middle East, journey professionals must be conscious that it additionally applies to different elements of the world, notably South and Southeast Asia which each have sizeable Muslim populations.

Indeed, an Al-Jazeera report from February of this yr exhibits that the halal / Muslim-friendly tourism market is anticipated to develop to US$410.9 billion by 2032, practically twice the whole seen at the finish of 2023.

Crescent Rating, the main world authority on halal journey, additionally identified that the quantity of Muslims travelling globally regardless of whether or not for enterprise or leisure may hit 230 million by 2028.

This rise, of course, depends on how quickly completely different nations can launch and implement key initiatives to draw Muslim travellers, notably facilities that take their spiritual practices into consideration on prime of their dietary necessities.

East Asia, specifically, must step up its recreation, given the rising quantity of Muslim travellers making their solution to China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Travel Daily Media was just lately capable of sit down with Crescent Ratings’ head of enterprise growth 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 Middle East.

Working with East Asian hospitality suppliers

Nugroho defined to us that Crescent Rating just lately labored with the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) in an effort to construct up their Muslim-friendly service ecosystem from the floor up, an initiative which was spearheaded by the HKTB itself.

As he remembers: “We did a seminar with their stakeholders, mostly the hoteliers, as well as main venues, attractions, and shopping malls throughout Hong Kong. We shared critical touchpoints with them regarding the needs of Muslim travellers.”

Those in attendance at that speak have been launched with the Crescent Rating system which is used to judge institutions primarily based on how Muslim-friendly they’re.

Nugroho mentioned: “Along the way, we managed to rate 16 establishments in Hong Kong, and we noted that some of them have made improvements in their offerings, especially when it comes to halal food and the availability water in washrooms; some have even added bidets to their toilets.”

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

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

With regard to hospitality suppliers in the Chinese Mainland, Nugroho mentioned: “We haven’t been able to penetrate the Chinese market because, so far, we don’t have a local partner or counterpart we could actually work with. But we are working on getting to the tourism boards in the country.”

Interestingly, whereas China has had ethnic Muslim areas like the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang in the northwestern half of the nation, it has been a problem even for organisations like Crescent Rating to realize traction in the nation.

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

On cruises and measures in different elements of the area

In latest months, regional cruises have begun to change into extra common amongst Asian travellers, particularly following the model refresh for Star and Dream Cruises in March of this yr.

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

Nugroho defined: “We’ve worked with Resorts World Cruises [the previous brand identity for StarCruises] in Singapore, and we’ve actually rated them based on how Muslim-friendly they are. To date, one of their cruises is already Muslim-friendly.”

Indeed, some vessels like StarCruises’ Star Voyager are already outfitted with services 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 at the acceptable instances for each iftar at sundown and suhoor earlier than daybreak.

Nugroho added: “ We are currently (3:46) launching another cruise in Antarctica with Albatros Expeditions, and we’re going to set plans early next year with them. It’s going to be Muslim-friendly, so it means that they have bidets for washing, as well as halal food. And, yes: they will also have a prayer room.”

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

Naturally, such facilities are already obtainable 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.

However, 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 Rating are already in talks with related authorities to make sure that the proper measures will probably be set in place a while in the future.