Tourists pay more for halal holidays

Despite relatively low awareness of the Halal holiday concept (only 29% across MENASA), when prompted, three quarters of respondents claim it is important for their leisure destination to offer a halal holiday (51% claim it is ‘extremely important’).

The research, produced from YouGov’s annual Travel Oracle which interviewed 22,868 respondents online from across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia about their attitudes to halal tourism, also reveals just over three-quarters of respondents who are interested in the concept would pay more for a halal holiday than a standard holiday that doesn’t accommodate religious considerations. Residents from Yemen are the most willing to pay more (81%), followed by Algeria, Pakistan (both 80%) and Sudan (79%).

Halal tourism is geared towards Muslim families where tourism destinations offer holidays in accordance with Islamic beliefs and practices. According to the YouGov Travel Oracle, of the 29% of respondents that are aware of the concept of Halal tourism, respondents in Tunisia were the most likely to be aware (54%). Those respondents residing in Iraq were the least likely to be aware (15%).

The popularity of the concept amongst a population that is largely unaware exposes the essentially un-tapped market for travel destinations accommodating people’s religious beliefs. Those most in favour of halal holidays include respondents in Algeria (73% ‘extremely important’), Sudan (65% ‘extremely important’) and Yemen (64% ‘extremely important’). The concept was least important among those residing in Lebanon (34% ‘extremely unimportant’).

Currently, of those respondents interested in halal holidays, the largest proportion claim the country they most closely associate with the concept is Saudi Arabia (29%), however interestingly when asked which country they would be most interested to see develop Halal holiday destinations, the largest proportion chose the UAE (16%), followed by Saudi Arabia (10%).

When considering the most important features of a halal holiday, 64% of respondents say that prayer spaces are the most essential attribute. The provision of halal food was the second most essential attribute according to 63% of respondents, followed by being alcohol-free (51%). Modestly dressed staff and women-only swimming pools were also highly important according to 35% and 31% of respondents respectively.

source: arabiantravelnews