Halalification of Tourism

Halal tourism has emerged as one of the booming sectors of the travel industry. But the world is still not entirely familiar with the concept of “Halal.” The understanding of the term “Halal” is often restricted to food. However, it extends way beyond that. Halal means “permissible or allowed” in Arabic and is also applied to areas including finance, cosmetic, medicine, textile and so on.

Often these areas overlap but are seldom taken care of as a whole. Though Halal food might be available in certain cities of the world, the other aspects are mostly neglected. In this article, I would like to focus on the issues that Muslim tourists face while traveling.

Issues Faced by Muslim Travelers

Prayer rooms in hotels and public places

Unavailability of prayers rooms in public places and airports causes inconvenience to Muslim travelers. They are left with no other choice than to pray in dressing rooms. Moreover, the lack of prayer rooms in hotels is another issue that they have to deal with frequently.

Availability of Halal cosmetics

It’s not common for hotels to provide Halal certified shampoo and soap to Muslim travelers. The hospitality industry needs to take a step forward and provide at least Halal certified products of daily use to Muslim tourists.

The Halal Logo

The logo implying Halal certification of a hotel is often missing. In such cases, it becomes difficult for travelers to gauge the reliability in terms of Halal services provided by the hotel.

Quran and Prayer Mats

It would be a great aid to the travelers while performing their daily prayers if the hotels could provide them with a copy of the Holy Quran, a lectern to keep it, and a prayer mat.

Qibla Pointing Signage

This is something that all Muslim travelers face while traveling. There is a need for the placement of the arrows showing direction towards Mecca in hotel rooms.

Pronouncement of Azan

There could be some innovative technology introduced in the hotel rooms so that the call for prayer is heard only in the rooms where Muslim guests are staying. This won’t cause interference with the personal space of non-Muslim guests.

A small step & a big change in Halal Tourism – Read about our Shattaf campaign. Click Here