Looking for Muslim-friendly hotel reviews?

Today we’d like to give you some thoughts on why we did start halaltrip. Apart from the worldwide economic crisis the so-called “Halal tourism” is on the rise. Based on various World Travel Market Reports (WTM) this special segment of traveling is still an untapped field not only for Middle and Far East but also for Western Europe and the US, where the Muslim population is constantly growing. World travel markets like Turkey, Malaysia, the Gulf region, Singapore or Indonesia show already strong interests in Halal facilities and accommodations.

So what does that mean?

Hotels are especially keen on getting Halal food certificates to attract the huge amount of Arab tourists. In 2005, 150.000 tourists traveled from Middle East to Malaysia, in 2007 almost 250.000 people. Another example would be Dubai, where several Hotel groups announced the development of hotel chains complying with Islamic law. But there is also a growing number of Muslims, who are looking for ladies-only swimming pools and wellness activities, prayer facilities and a range of Halal food.

Further, Muslim travelers want to know as well if the hotel properties serve alcohol. Indeed, traveling and Web-based services are nowadays very closely related. Actually, one might say there is a ‘Travel-Web-Nexus’. In 2009 the online spending on leisure travel increased to $110 billion, which means that more than a third of online users are visiting travel-rating sites. And another 80% are regularly reading travel sites. Global Players like TripAdvisor, Zoover and YahooTravel are just the peak of a huge variety of rating sites. Despite that, there is still a (huge) niche market targeting a Muslim audience, who is keen on traveling within a Halal environment.