New guide defines Muslim travel terms

As the international Muslim travel market continues to grow, one organization is looking to educate the travel industry on the requirements of an increasing number of travellers.

Singapore-based CrescentRating – an organization founded in 2009 with the goal of connecting the travel industry with the Muslim market – just released what it describes as the world’s first Halal travel guide, providing the global travel industry with more than 150 terms and definitions related to Islam and their application to travel, as well as guidelines for accommodating Muslim guests. The guide also makes the distinction between different forms of travel undertaken by Muslim travellers; while a destination or hotel could be considered ‘Muslim-friendly’ by accommodating some of a guest’s needs, Halal travel (meaning anything ‘permissable’ according to the guidelines of Islam) accounts for all aspects of the faith, such as prayer and food requirements (including catering during non-standard hours to account for fasting during Ramadan).

Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating, told PAX that through the glossary, which took more than a year to compile, he hopes to provide the international travel industry with a consistent list of terms and guidelines to accommodate this growing market.

“What we noticed is that as the market has been growing, we needed to bring some sort of consistency with terms associated with Muslim travel,” Bahardeen said. “The market is becoming more important for a lot of destinations and I think a better understanding of the terms will help with the further growth of the market.”

According to CrescentRating, global Muslim travel is estimated at worth more than $140 billion and is on track to reach $192 billion by 2020, growing approximately 25 per cent faster than the overall tourism market. The MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2015 found that in 2014, there were 108 million Muslim travellers representing 10 per cent of the entire travel economy, a figure forecasted to grow to 150 million visitors by 2020 and 11 per cent of the market.

Bahardeen said the glossary is geared toward all aspects of the travel industry, from travel agents and tourism boards to hotels and airlines, who may be unfamiliar with the requirements of the faith.

Internationally, Bahardeen said the largest markets for Muslim travel are the Middle East, followed by South Asia, Western Europe, Turkey and Iran. While small compared to other markets, Bahardeen said CrescentRating estimates that in Canada, approximately 840,000 outbound Muslims travelled in 2014 - 590,000 to the U.S., with 250,000 travelling to other international destinations. The 2014 inbound Muslim market to Canada was approximately 430,000, he added.

“There was a dip in North America after 9/11 but it now seems to be recovering,” Bahardeen said.

More information and the glossary can be found at www.crescentrating.com.