The “2016-2017 Global Islamic Economy Report”, developed and produced by Thomson Reuter has ranked the UAE as the world’s top halal travel destination.
The report dictates that assessment was based off four criteria: inbound Muslim travel, awareness campaigns, quality of halal-friendly ecosystems and the contribution of the halal tourism sector to employment.
Mohamed Saleh Badri, Secretary General of the International Halal Accreditation Forum (IHAF) commented on the upwards trends as presenting better business opportunities for the industry and encouraged stakeholders to start addressing challenges to make the most of the momentum and boost tourism activities.
“Muslim travelers and halal consumers are constantly looking for halal-certified leisure destinations they can trust. Unified standards should be in place in order to satisfy the needs of holidaymakers requiring halal products and services,” Badri said.
The report discerned that the greatest challenge for the market as of now is the weakness of awareness campaigns.
The halal market, 72 percent of which originated from Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries, is the second largest travel market next only to China ($168 billion).
