More and more Muslims around the world are now venturing out of their comfort zones and traveling to popular countries that tend to offer a small number of Halal-friendly facilities, or even to ones that offer none at all. This rapidly growing Muslim tourist market is said to be worth billions. With that in mind, non-Muslim countries, world-wide are attempting to proceed with the steps and initiatives that will make them more Muslim-friendly, therefore ramping up the number of Muslim tourists.
Toronto is one such multicultural city that is striving to be a Muslim-friendly destination. In recent times, tourism chiefs from Toronto; the biggest city in Canada, are attempting to boost tourism by focusing on making Toronto an alternative to other destinations frequented by Muslim travelers. Their initiatives include; offering Arabic language newspapers as well as TV channels in hotel rooms, making sure each hotel room has the direction of Mecca marked and having available prayer mats and copies of the Quran if needed. Another major step is also to have a wide range of Halal food available in restaurants.
Another city joining the trend is Italy. The city is world-renowned for its cuisine, which sometimes sadly cannot be enjoyed by Muslim visitors due to the availability of non-Halal items. This is hopefully set to change. The city is set to become a leading Halal hub in Europe by producing food that follows the Shariah law, after officials noted that the city has great potential and that becoming Muslim-friendly could and would boost tourism.
New Zealand already receives a large amount of tourists from Muslim countries each year. It has, however, been urged to move forward and embrace the billion dollar Muslim tourism industry. New Zealand, like the others mentioned above, is striving to provide reassurance to Muslim visitors, by for instance offering holidays geared more towards families as opposed to offering beach or sea-side holidays. In addition to that, some other changes that tourists might see include; hotels having a list of nearby mosques if needed by any Muslim guest, making sure the qibla direction is marked in hotel rooms; for convenience purposes, and also by offering a selection of Halal food in hotel restaurants.
All of the initiatives mentioned above are aimed to provide comfort and peace of mind to Muslim travelers. These options are making a huge difference for Muslim travelers by giving them a mix of new and familiar. This is absolutely great news for the travel savvy Muslim.
