Northstar

8 | www.travelweekly-asia.com COVER STORY Muslim Travel A decade ago, little was known about the Muslim travel market generally. It was the preserve of specialist travel agencies. One man who has helped to bring this sector into sharper focus in recent years is Singapore-based Fazal Bahardeen, who has launched a string of travel and lifestyle services catering to Muslim consumers. Travel Weekly Asia sat down with him to understand what has changed. It's more than a decade since you started CrescentRating – billed as a leading authority on halal-friendly travel – how has awareness of Muslim travel changed within the industry? Ten years ago, when we started, nobody wanted to listen to us. No one really defined this as a market, so what we did was give it a face and definition. There's been a lot more traction over the last 12 years in terms of destinations targeting the Muslim market. Only in the last four to five years have we seen the industry really embracing the market. Is the sector becoming mainstream? Muslim travel is already mainstream. More and more destinations will embrace this as a key market segment in the next five years. The work is currently being driven by destinations, but there are definitely signs of the private sector getting on board. Destinations like Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore have been pushing a lot and there's also a lot of work happening even in Indonesia. There're much more activities in terms of destination promotion, such as creating Muslim visitor guides and engaging with influencers. What makes you most hopeful as destinations in Asia become more accessible to Muslim travellers? There's a lot going on in terms of capability building. I see this with some of the markets we work with like Indonesia and Taiwan, one of the most aggressive markets. For instance, Taipei has opened prayer facilities at the Taipei Main Station. Japan, apart from diversifying their arrivals, will also welcome the 2020 Olympics, so that is also driving a lot of awareness and capability building. Singapore has been the top non-Islamic destination for the market for many years now. I would say mostly because of its location it has become Muslim-friendly by default. The two biggest markets have been, for a long time, Malaysia and Indonesia. With almost 15% of the local population being Muslim, Singapore has been very friendly for a long time. I think Singapore can do a lot more in terms of promoting itself as a Muslim-friendly destination. Any sub sectors within the Muslim travel market that you'll be focusing on this year? One area we've identified is the Muslim women segment. It's becoming a huge trend as Muslim women are beginning to plan and book travel on their own or in groups. They're also becoming more influential in travel decision-making when they're on family trips as more and more are better educated and entering the workforce. We will be launching a new report that will profile this segment and their needs in October. Two new areas that we're looking into is MICE and cruise. We can see How giving a face and definition to the Muslim travel market has brought it mainstream. By Naomi Neoh Q&A With CrescentRating's Fazal Bahardeen "One area we've identified is the Muslim women segment... Muslim women are beginning to plan and book travel on their own or in groups." - Fazal Bahardeen, founder and CEO, CrescentRating and Halaltrip interest in the Muslim market is moving beyond the leisure market and trickling down to other niche markets. We've previously never gotten inquiries from the MICE sector before, so this is brand new. PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) is currently exploring what we can do together. We're planning to do some research on the cruise market sometime next year. What's your most memorable travel experience? Any insights for the travel industry? When I visited Lucerne almost three years ago, there were halal restaurants there. Interestingly, there's one episode I recall that surprised me when I was living in Paris more than 20 years ago. Then, it was not easy to find halal food. I was on a bus from Paris to Lucerne when the bus made a stop along a highway petrol kiosk. I walked into the kiosk and right on a small shelf were halal sandwiches. Any advice for travel businesses to make Muslim visitors feel more welcome? I think it boils down to educating their own staff and stakeholders, continue to build capacity and capability. It doesn't have to be all at once. Try to see what you can do quite easily, for example, finding out where the halal restaurants are nearby that you can tell your customers. And start marketing. I think that is one of the things that a lot of destinations are not doing. Most destinations actually do have certain services that fit the market, but they're probably not putting in enough research to identify them. Because of that, they're also not promoting and marketing it in a coherent way. That's where they need to put a lot more focus even before you begin to build new services and capabilities.

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