Source: The New York Times
By Debra Kamin
For one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global travel industry, there is no pork on the hotel dinner menus. There are flights with no alcohol on the drink carts, resorts with separate swimming pools for men and women, and daily itineraries with built-in break times for the five daily calls to prayer.
Since 2016, the number of Muslim travelers has grown nearly 30 percent, and a recent joint study by Mastercard and Crescent Rating, a research group that tracks halal-friendly travel, projects that over the next decade that sector’s contribution to the global economy will jump to $300 billion from $180 billion. With a population that is disproportionately young, educated and upwardly mobile, they are one of the fastest-growing demographics on the global tourism scene.
But this wasn’t always the case.
In 2015, Soumaya Hamdi went roadtripping through Asia with her husband and her then 4-month-old baby. The trio visited Singapore and Malaysia, and then caught a flight to South Korea and on to Japan. The trip was thrilling, but Ms. Hamdi and her husband, who are both observant Muslims, found the daily search for halal-certified food a difficult one.
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My bestfriend is always looking for halal food when we travel. I wish there were more places
now-a-days there are ‘apps’ on mobile phones, such as ‘Islamic Prayer times’ that include how to find halal places at your location.
Lombok ,Indonesia, is trying to ‘show-off’ as Halal Tourism destination. Yes, there are many mosques in Lombok (also a couple of Hindu temples and some church) and pork is usually not on the menu (may be in some foreign-catering hotels, I am not sure), BUT … alcohol is available in practically all tourist catering hotels (not in the restaurants mainly catering for locals).