Category: Travel & Hospitality
Arab tourists’ interest in Turkey increases, say tourism officials
Officials from tourism agencies from Arab countries, have spoken about why their citizens chose to come to Turkey for holidays. Among the most important factors they detailed were the food, the shared history, the natural beauty, and religious similarities between Turkey and their home countries.
Abu Dhabi: Growth in business travel
Abu Dhabi has significantly expanded its business travel market in recent years, particularly the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) segment, aiming at $1.4b by 2015.
Travel: Praying on the plane
Making air travel more welcoming to Muslim travellers is a big deal: Muslims represent around $100 billion—around 10%—of global travel spending, according to AFP, and that figure is growing as majority-Muslim countries.
Travel: Airborne prayers problem solved for tech-savvy Muslims
Launched earlier this month, the online tool takes data such as prayer times in the country of origin, the destination city and in countries on the flight path and uses an algorithm to plot exact prayer hours during a flight.
Opinion: Can China Make Its Cuisine and Finance Friendly to Muslims?
The Hong Kong Tourism Board reports that in recent years, the number of Middle Eastern visitors to the region has grown by as much as 20% annually. How the Chinese have been able to adjust to these Muslim visitors can be seen in Hong Kong, where many of these business people go through.
Saudi Arabia’s Foodie Scene Growing
Despite the rise of fast-food joints, gourmet chefs aim to create a gourmet food culture. What will transform the country into a major international food scene are more culinary schools for developing chefs.
UK: New Travel Website Provides Halal Holidays to the Muslim Traveller
A new travel provider has launched in the UK, specialising in Halal Friendly Travel to the Muslim holidaymaker.
Malaysia: MACS Becomes The First GLC To Receive Sirims QMS From Islamic Perspective
Malaysia Airport Consultancy Service (MACS), a Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad subsidiary, has become the first government-linked company (GLC) to receive the MS1900:2005 certified by QAS International based on Quality Management System from the Islamic Perspective.
Taiwan: Bureau seeks to attract more Muslim tourists
The Tourism Bureau yesterday said it aimed to have 50 restaurants certified as Muslim-friendly as it looks at options to further tap into the Muslim tourist market. The cost of hosting Muslims is slightly higher than that of non-Muslim tourists, but the Halal certification would help hotels attract more tourists from Muslim nations.
UAE-NZ ties growing
Trade figures show New Zealand exports to the GCC have grown from $695 million in 2009 to $1.2 billion in 2011 that shows a 71 per cent increase over the two-year period. Dubai’s attraction to more tourists will increase demand for food and beverage products and it will provide opportunities to New Zealand companies to boost exports.
UAE: Marketing Survey Suggests that UAE Residents Eat Out 11 Times a Week
This latest report was commissioned by LivingSocial as part of its ongoing efforts to discover and share information about local social trends. The survey itself was based on the dining habits provided by 1,131 residents.
Malaysia ranked top Halal friendly holiday destination
Crescentrating.com, a travel portal for Halal-conscious Muslim travellers, said that Malaysia was placed on the top spot because it has much to offer to Muslim travellers. Second was Egypt, followed by Turkey, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Brunei and Qatar, according to the survey conducted by the portal.
India: ‘Kashmir ideally suited for Saudi tourists’
A high-level delegation of tourism and culture ministers, government officials, bureaucrats, airline operators and tourism experts from different states of India is currently visiting the Kingdom to familiarize Saudis with all that “Incredible India” has to offer.
Egypt: Egyptian tourism workers reject proposal for halal tourism
Egyptians in the tourism sector are worried that proposals by Salafi political leaders advocating halal tourism would hurt a sector that is already in decline following the wave of political protests this year.
Egypt: Egypt’s Islamists offer controversial vision for ‘halal’ tourism
Islamists are dominating Egypt’s elections and some of them have a new message for tourists: welcome, but no booze, bikinis or mixed bathing at beaches, please.
Egypt’s Islamists try to calm fears over tourism
Egypt’s main Islamist parties on Sunday launched separate conferences aimed at promoting tourism as they scrambled to allay fears that the lucrative industry is under threat from religious conservatism.
Are airline meals labeled Muslim Meals really Halal?
The MOML – “Muslim Meal” is just a meal “without pork and without Alcohol “(In the jargon Airline Caterer term it is called a “Non-Pork”-Meal). Everything else does not meet the Islamic dietary laws. It is also not the laid down claim that the meat would be Halal slaughtered or the ingredients are Halal-compliant.
Malaysia: Halal Internal Auditors Programme for hotels
Bachok, Kelantan–The Minister of International Trade & Industry, Dato’ Seri Mustapa Mohamed, launched a specially designed programme on Halal Internal Auditors for hotels in Kota Bharu, Kelantan on 23 October 2011. The initiative is organised by Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC).
Bosnia – Uncharted Land
Bosnia could easily become a major halaal tourist destination, tapping the huge potential of the growing Muslim consumer market, the country’s cultural heritage and strategic geographic location, according to Amir Sakic, the head of the regional halaal certification institution – the Agency for Halaal Quality Certification.
Malaysian company wants to expand Halal food services to Russia
LSG Skychef-Brahim’s Sdn Bhd, the world’s biggest Halal flight kitchen caterer, is embarking on expanding its services to new markets such as China, Eastern Europe as well as scouting for opportunities in the former Soviet states and the Middle East.
