Large market
The Global Muslim Tourism Index shows that the number of international Muslim tourists is estimated to increase from 108 million visitors in 2013 to 160 million visitors in 2019. After the COVID-19 pandemic, Muslim tourists will return to 160 million visitors in 2024. It is expected that by 2028, there will be 230 million Muslim tourists who will accept to spend 225 billion USD on international travel.
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| Indian tourist group experiences a performance of Halal cuisine. (Photo: quangninh.gov.vn) |
Head of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism Nguyen Trung Khanh said that Muslims love to travel and they are the group with the highest expenses in the world. Therefore, countries always pay special attention to this group of visitors.
“Currently, Muslims account for one fourth of the world's population, with 255 million people in Southeast Asia alone such as Malaysia and Indonesia. These are markets close to Vietnam, so it is very convenient for Vietnamese tourism businesses to access and exploit this huge source of tourists," Mr. Khanh shared.
Mr. Tran Van Tan Cuong, representative of Vietnam National Halal Company Limited, said that Halal is a tourism trend that is of interest to many countries. Muslim tourists are the most high-end tourist streams from the Middle East, belonging to the APEC countries, often travelling in groups, taking with them multi-generational families. They use high-end services, such as: cruise ships, 5-star hotels or higher, requiring extremely high personal service standards and details. They also require private space, serving private groups of individuals, with special attention to cultural, customs and religious factors. Therefore, destinations, accommodation establishments or restaurants must arrange separate reception spaces, arrange to suit dietary needs, strict religious living habits, and respect for different religious rituals.
Mr. Shammi Singh Thakur, representative of travel agency Travel Seasons of India, said that Quang Ninh is a pioneer northern province to welcome the trend of Indian tourism and Halal tourists. Currently, many tourism units in Quang Ninh are interested in providing travel services for Halal visitors, helping us have more options to introduce to tourists, thus making Quang Ninh the top destination in Vietnam for these tourists.
From the beginning of 2023, Quang Ninh has welcomed 875,000 arrivals of international visitors. In particular, the number of Indian tourists has increased impressively, ranking among the top major tourist markets of Quang Ninh. The province is still one of the destinations in Vietnam that is most sought after by Indian tourists.
Solutions
According to experts, there are many reasons for Muslims to choose to travel to Vietnam, including stable political factors, a dynamic and developed economy, beautiful tourist destinations, and many Muslims doing business. However, to effectively attract Muslims tourists, it is necessary to have Muslim-friendly services, Halal-certified products, and many other factors must be invested.
Ms. Marina Muhamad, Director of the Muslim Tourism Center under Malaysia’s Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism, said that many beautiful landscapes is not enough. To attract Muslim tourists, first of all, it is necessary to meet culinary requirements with restaurants meeting Halal standards, especially having places for customers to pray, because Muslims pray five times a day. Localities must show friendliness and closeness to Muslims, and must make Muslim visitors feel safe and convenient, especially at praying time.
According to businesses, Vietnam does not have many direct flights to Muslim markets, nor much specialized tourism infrastructure to meet the requirements of Halal tourists. One of the typical examples is that hotels for Muslim tourists need to have special equipment such as marking arrows pointing towards Mecca for them to pray; restaurants need to have specialized chefs, food must meet Halal certification. However, in most localities there are very few of these services.
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| Indian tourist group experiences a performance of Halal cuisine. (Photo: quangninh.gov.vn) |
In addition, there is an objective reason stemming from the specific attire of Muslim tourists. Almost all Halal tourist groups received curious looks and unwanted expressions from local people at the destinations. Therefore, in recent years, although Vietnam has welcomed many Muslim tourists, this market does not seem to be a strong focus.
According to Deputy General Director of Vietravel Huynh Phan Phuong Hoang, investing in praying places and restaurants ensuring Halal food quality are two of the challenges that Vietravel and many businesses find difficult to meet when promoting products in this market. However, tourism businesses are still trying to adjust, update facilities, infrastructure and change business exploitation trends to become a Muslim-friendly destination.
Since 2022, Vietnam has conducted conferences to promote tourism investment in Middle East. In February 2023, the Prime Minister approved the Project "Strengthening international cooperation to build and develop Vietnam's Halal industry until 2030". Since then, tourism businesses have promoted production and development of industrial, agricultural and handicraft products for export to the Muslim market and attracting tourists, who combine with seeking investment cooperation, business opportunities in Vietnam, exporting on the spot by tourism exploitation. It is forecast that 2024 will boom in Halal tourism and industry.
Vietnam’s tourism industry has conducted many promotional activities aiming at the Muslim market such as organizing to welcome FAM trip groups, press trips from Muslim countries to visit, survey and promote tourism products; exchange with tourism businesses between the two countries; organizing survey teams including Vietnamese tourism businesses and Vietnam’s state tourism management agencies to Muslim countries to learn about the culture, country and people, and connect tourism businesses of the two countries. These activities aim to contribute to promoting the development of the Muslim tourist market to Vietnam./.