Travellers in Oman have welcomed the launch of the world’s first-ever halal travel glossary. A new glossary providing access to a wealth of terminology used in one of the fastest growing sectors globally was launched by CrescentRating, the world’s leading authority on halal travel on Wednesday.
Ansar Ibrahim, an Indian Muslim living in Oman said, “Many countries are focussing on halal tourism. It is now becoming a highly developed and successful industry. This glossary comes at the right time.”
CrescentRating has published a new guide which promotes accurate and consistent use of terms in the halal travel market (download it here). Over 150 terms and concepts have been entered and validated with regular updates planned as the market matures.
Users can obtain a quick list of terms through the glossary which has been divided into sections for easy navigation. It has been published as a free downloadable e-book with plans to make it an online resource in the near future.
With halal travel now worth billions of dollars annually, the need to understand these terms is becoming more important, as the industry aims to capitalise on a sector projected to be worth $200 billion by 2020.
Raji DeMonte, general manager at Universal Travel and Tourism in Oman said, “There are many takers for halal tour packages among Muslims nationals and especially expatriates from Asian countries.”
“Such a glossary would be welcomed by them,” she said. CrescentRating says understanding these terms is imperative for all travel-related businesses looking to benefit from the growth of this market such as tourism boards, Government agencies, hotels, restaurants, attractions, airports, airlines, cruises and spas.
Travel phenomenon
Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating, said, “Embracing the halal travel phenomenon is now a key focus of growth across the industry for both OIC and non-OIC destinations.”
“With an increasing number of destinations and services looking to attract the Muslim traveller, there is a need to better understand the terms used to describe the market needs and practices related to this segment,” he said.
The glossary includes terms which provide an overview of Halal travel and its core values. Each of these has been defined in the context of lifestyle and travel.
This e-book also covers faith-related terms used to describe the needs and practices of Muslim travellers. The first edition of the glossary is now available in English, and there are plans to publish it in other languages in the future.
The MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2015, which is the most comprehensive research that has been released on the sector, revealed that in 2014, the Muslim travel market was worth $145 billion with 108 million Muslim travellers representing 10 per cent of the entire travel economy.
This is forecast to grow to 150 million visitors by 2020 and 11 per cent of the market segment with a market value projected to grow to $200 billion.
*This article was originally published on Muslim Village on 16 August 2015. Read the original article here.