Travel experts forecast high growth ofhalal tourism

International trips by Muslims haveexperienced high growth rates over the last decade

Travel experts forecast high growth ofhalal tourism

Muslims are the world’s fastest-growingreligious group and by 2030 will make up an estimated 25 percent of the world’spopulation. Furthermore, in some Muslim-dominated markets there is a thrivingmiddle class with growing buying power and a new consumer behavior. One effecthas been an increase of international trips undertaken by Muslims. To analysetheir travel behavior, IPK International was commissioned to conduct a specialevaluation of the World Travel Monitor®. In some aspects, Muslim travelbehavior differs significantly from other groups. City breaks are more popularthan Sun & Beach holidays for instance, and shopping is more important thanvisiting museums.

Increasingly, customers also want to beable to observe their religious customs. A touristic offer that caters toMuslims’ needs represents both a challenge and an opportunity for the travelindustry.

Specific aspects of halal travel

According to Fazal Bahardeen, managingdirector of CrescentRating, the world’s leading expert on halal travel, thedifference lies in specific shared values among Muslims that are much strongerthan among other communities, regardless of their nationality. Whereas manyassociate halal merely with the way food is prepared, it actually refers toeverything that conforms to traditional Islamic law. For the travel industrythat means fulfilling certain faith-based needs of Muslim travelers. Thisincludes preparing food according to halal rules, adapting meal times duringRamadan, offering prayer facilities in hotels, providing separate swimmingpools for men and women and offering entertainment that caters towards Muslims.

High growth of Muslims traveling abroad

Currently, the most interesting sourcemarkets regarding the demand of international halal travel are Indonesia,India, Turkey, Malaysia and the Arab countries. According to IPK’s World TravelMonitor, source markets with a predominantly Islamic population showed growth ratesthat were 40% higher in the past 5 years compared to the rest of the world.Strong growth is also predicted for the years ahead. Thus halal travel offershuge growth potential for destinations around the world.

City breaks top the list

Worldwide City breaks and Sun & Beachholidays are the most popular holiday types. However, the picture looksdifferent for international Islamic travel. Here, City breaks top the list witha market share of over one-third. Second-placed are Tour holidays, which isthen followed by Sun & Beach holidays with only around half the marketshare compared to the total market.

In general, for Muslims internationalholidays are less important than for other international travelers. Bycontrast, business trips, visiting friends and relatives and other leisuretrips account for a bigger share of the market. Religious trips and pilgrimagesin particular play a much greater role and make up ten percent of foreign trips? which is ten times higher compared to the rest of the world with only one percent market share.

More shopping, less sightseeing

Apart from preferring other types ofholidays, Muslims also tend to pursue different activities when traveling.Whenever they visit cities shopping is on top of the list. In contrast, sightseeing? the number one attraction for other travelers ?visiting museums, or goodfood, is less important for this segment. Also Tour holidays are shapeddifferently with less focus on sightseeing or museum visits and more focus onnature and shopping instead.

Germany is the most popular destination inEurope

For Muslims traveling abroad the UnitedArab Emirates is the most popular destination worldwide. Germany comes second,followed by Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Singapore, which makes it the by far mostpopular destination in Europe. Looking at each continent, over 60 percent oftrips abroad by Muslims go to Asia (including the Middle East) and aroundone-third to Europe. By comparison, trips to Africa, North and South Americaonly have a very small share of the market.

Young and highly educated

Measured against all other internationaltravelers worldwide the percentage of female travelers from Islamic countriesis below average. However, in recent years their numbers have increasedsteadily. Muslim travelers are much younger than average, with 75 percent agedbetween 25 and 44. In terms of education, there is a larger share of those withhigh education levels.

Additional information on specific topicsregarding World Travel Monitor® data from IPK International will be publishedsoon. Conclusive travel trend findings for 2018 will also be presented by theend of the year. The World Travel Monitor® is based on the results ofrepresentative interviews with more than 500,000 people in over 60 globaltravel markets. It has been published for more than 20 years and is recognisedas the most widescale continuous survey examining global travel trends.

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