JEDDAH — In today's globalized world, traveling is an inherent part of regular life and tourism has become a significant source of income for many countries. Thus, there is a need to develop bespoke tourism products and services to cater to this dynamic and emerging market. Alpha Tours, one of leading traveling solutions provider in the region, offers tour packages and destinations that are designed especially to cater to the Muslim community and are in accordance with Islamic beliefs and practices. There has been a surging trend toward halal tourism in the past few years, and this has gained pace even in predominantly non-Muslim countries that are trying to attract more Muslim tourists. A recent study revealed that until at least 2020, Muslim international tourism will increase at a faster rate than the average rate for international tourism — 4.79 percent versus 3.8 percent. The overall annual spending for international Muslim tourism is expected to reach $192 billion. The boom in halal tourism can be seen as a great opportunity not only for leisure travellers, but also for the MICE market. Ghassan Al Aridi, Founder and CEO of Alpha Tours, said “things have moved quickly over the last couple of years, and now the growth trajectory is even sharper. With the immense potential on offer, we have seen emerging trends such as halal travel agencies being accredited, training workshops being organized and steps to equip the staff in offering Muslim-only travel packages.” The growth rates in Asia are forecast to be as high as 30 percent annually, with the segment for meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) expected to grow fastest. With so much of business potential on offer in the Middle East and across the globe, Halal Tourism in MICE is definitely on the surge. The Muslim Travel market segment was estimated to be worth $140 billion in 2013, representing almost 13 percent of global travel expenditures, and this is set to grow to reach $192 billion by 2020, and this offers a huge financial windfall for the industry. As pioneers in the field, Alpha Tours offers specialized services such as bookings of halal hotels and itineraries that include halal-certified restaurants and the provision of prayer rooms at airports, hotel rooms, shopping malls and other Muslim facilities, as well as Muslim-friendly business travel to meetings or events, travelers are more comfortable traveling to new destinations. The current halal friendly destinations range from member countries of the Organization of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) such as the UAE, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia, Morocco, Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia to Egypt, along with many others. Among the top-five non-OIC countries, Singapore leads the pack ahead of South Africa, Thailand, UK and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Japan has been very proactive, and Thailand is also gaining ground. — SG
