Muslim travelers increased by 10% globally last year according to 2016 Global Muslim Travel Index and by 2020, the visitors are expected to reach 168m with revenue from Muslim travel segment to reach $200bn. UAE and Dubai looks forward to benefit from this scenario. Dubai has been named as one of the top-10 Ramadan destinations for Muslim travelers this year by the MasterCard and CrescentRating report.
Dubai was also named recently as the best destination for Muslim travelers in the inaugural halal travel awards. It has Muslim-friendly credentials, with halal food, prayer facilities, cultural experiences and accommodation. Halal tourism requires elaborate market research and products designed to cater specific needs of clientele and Dubai government is investing in a lot of tourism projects to attract more tourists. It is important to develop tourist packages to encourage families for taking trips to Dubai and to ensure that halal standards are met across hospitality sector. Safety and late night shopping are big attractions for Dubai.
Halal tourism’s rise is benefiting other sectors in Dubai’s economy and construction is one of them. Major number of visitors from the GCC, mostly Saudi Arabia, seeks luxury accommodations which are sharia-compliant. Saudi tourists were the largest share of GCC visitors, with 1.5m visiting Dubai in 2015 and 2.5m expected to visit per annum by 2020.
This demand has to comply with hotel numbers and capacities. For that, many sharia-compliant serviced hotel apartments are being built. Same goes with sharia-compliant consumer goods in Dubai and the UAE, with food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and general retail expected to see a growth in demand. Presently, many of the halal products used in Dubai and the UAE are imported. However, Dubai is all set to become a global production and distribution centre for the Islamic products market, and also meet growing domestic demand.
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