Germany’s thriving economy and outstanding arts and music scene make this country one of Europe’s prime tourist destinations. Seeing it as a business opportunity, Malaysian businessman Shahrul Matsum decided to set up Aida Travel, a tour agency providing Halal meals and a musafir prayer schedule fitted into its daily itinerary.
Aida Travel’s packages range from 5 to 12 days with prices ranging between RM4,000 (USD1,.503) to RM6,000 (USD1,579), though Shahrul stresses prices depend pretty much on the strength of the euro and time of year. The peak season of July – August is when European tourist populations, temperatures and airfares rise. May and June are relatively cooler and coincide with Malaysian school holidays, making these months target periods for Malaysian families to holiday abroad.
According to Shahrul, Aida Travel’s most popular tour package is a ten-day trip to the south of Germany – commencing from Frankfurt, journeying down part of the Romantic Road, with a short hop into Austria, a night spent at a spa resort by the Isar river, and winding up in Munich, exploring picturesque villages, monuments and heritage sites along the way. Alternatively, you can have your itinerary tailor made to coincide with Germany’s numerous festivals, cultural events, fairs, concerts and shows that take place at any given time in the year.
As guaranteed by Aida Travel, you trip will be arranged to fit in with your prayer schedule. “And you will get to enjoy three Halal meals each day”, says Shahrul. Having lived in Germany for eight years and being on the local Islamic committee of his community centre, his contracts with the local Halal restaurants provided him with the extra edge. Unfortunately, expecting Bamberger Krautbraten or Grilled Bratwurst served Halal is a rather tall order as almost all dishes served up in Germany (indeed in all of European) invariably use wine or beer in their preparation. As such, there are yet no restaurants offering Halal authentic local delicacies. Instead, tuck into Pakistani curries and Lebanese kebabs or savour the refined and subtle cooking style of Turkish and Kashmiri dishes. Do not be surprised if you get to taste satay and sambal tempoyak either, as Indonesian and Malaysian cuisine are not strangers to the West.
Aida Travel offers sightseeing and tours of the same calibre to other European destinations as well. These include England, Scandinavia, Denmark, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Russia. Packages to Bosnia, Sarajevo and Croatia are scheduled to start by mid 2005.
**This article was first published in The Halal Journal May/Jun 2005 edition, and was written by Yasmin Malik.