Spain prepares to host the world’s first international Halal Tourism Conference

The Halal Journal Team

3 years ago

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Spain is just days away from welcoming delegates from across the world as it hosts the world’s first international halal tourism conference.

Preparations are now in its final stages for the inaugural Halal Tourism Conference 2014, which is being held in Andalucia on Monday September 22.

It will bring the world’s tourism industry together to discuss the opportunities and challenges that halal tourism presents. Halal tourism was valued $140 billion last year and is now one of the fastest growing sectors in the industry. It is expected to grow to $192 billion by 2020.

Over 300 delegates will descend on Andalucia for the two day event which is being sponsored by Turkish Airlines, Spanish Tourism Board and Granada Tourism Board.

The conference will be represented by every level of the industry from tourism boards, hotel groups, tour operators and tourism marketers from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, UAE, Turkey, France and UK.

There is a confirmed full speaker line up of industry experts across various disciplines which will showcase how a country should organise its infrastructure to cater for the halal tourism boom.

Organiser Tasneem Mahmood, Director of CM Media, said: “We are now just days away from the event which is gearing up to be a conference which will shape the halal tourism agenda across the world.

“The level of insight and experts that will be gathered at this conference is an indication of just exactly how important halal tourism has become to the economy of every country. This diversity of our delegates also shows how countries across the world, whether they are Muslim or not, can take advantage.”

The two-day event will also feature seminars from industry experts, workshops, networking sessions and an exhibition.

Confirmed attendees for the conference include some of the biggest travel companies from the Middle East such as Dnata, Kanoo Travel, Al Ghanim, Salem Travel Agency and Shaheen Al Sahra.

Speakers at the event include:
• Zulkifly MD Said, Director General Islamic Tourism Centre, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia
• Esthy Reko Astuty, Director General of Tourism Marketing, Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Republic of Indonesia
• Hotel experts Chris Nader, Vice President, Development, Shaza Hotels, an affiliate of Kempinski Hotels and Hani Lashin, Group General Manager, Al Jawhara Group of Hotels
• Fazal Bahardeen, Founder of global halal travel experts Crescent Rating
• Elnur Seyidli, co-founder of HalalBooking.com,
• Rafi-Uddin Shikoh, CEO and Managing Director of Islamic industry research experts DinarStandard
• Anas Kasak, Director of global marketing agency McCann Reach.

The Halal Tourism Conference is being held on 22 and 23 September 2014, hosted in Andalucia, Spain. The conference will also see the launch of the Muslim Travel Index Europe 2014 which uses travel research from residents from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Malaysian residents.

The Travel Index Europe 2014 looks at the attitudes and behaviour of majority Muslim populations to tourism in the future and their experiences of countries they have already visited in Europe.

The Halal Tourism Conference will be followed by a two day tour of the region of Andalucia to provide businesses with a live case study of a region that is becoming more Muslim friendly and is actively working to meet the needs of Muslim travellers.

*This article was originally published on ITCM on 18 September 2014. Read the original article here.