IN July, a delegation of Saudi businessmen visited Jamaica to explore investment opportunities in the country. The group comprising approximately 65 members included Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister for Investors Outreach Badr Al Badr who were here to explore investment opportunities across Kingston and Montego Bay, after attending the inaugural Saudi-Caribbean Investment Forum in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, from July 6 to 8.

Fast forward to November, and there was an announcement from London after a meeting with Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett that Saudi-based Boudl Hotels and Resorts is looking to invest in a hotel property in the country.

The announcement signals what many may consider to be the start of a halal tourism market in Jamaica, as the tourism minister crisscrosses the world, including the Middle East, to woo tourists to the country.

“I don’t know if you’ve actually seen a video that has been going around in recent times, with the minister of tourism talking about rethinking tourism,” Michael Gillett-Chambers told an audience at the recently held Empowerment Seminar and Business Expo organised by Home Choice Enterprises and VM Investments as he started a presentation about halal tourism.

“I think it’s a time for us to actually relook at that and see how best we can actually grow the tourism market,” he continued.

Gillett-Chambers described halal tourism as “a subcategory of tourism, which is basically geared towards Muslim families” who are travelling more in recent years and want places to stay which observe the rules of Islam.

“”A quick search of the Internet reveals that the halal tourism market, which is a subset of the overall halal market, is growing in leaps and bounds and Muslims in those concentrated regions have started to reach out to the rest of the world more. What we have observed is that many non-Muslim countries have seen great wisdom is providing halal facilities in their effort to court this growing market segment,” Gillett-Chambers continued.

According to Future Market Insights, the global halal tourism industry has been accounted as one of the fastest-growing tourism segments in the world. The halal tourism market is projected to reach a valuation of US$255 billion in 2022, with the number of Muslim tourists growing to 156 million from 121 million in 2016. Muslim tourists spending is likely to reach US$365 billion by the end of 2032. Only US and Chinese tourists spend more that Muslim tourists.

Gillett-Chambers assessed that forward-thinking governments worldwide, including those of numerous non-Muslim countries, are preparing for the shift that is taking place and will be far more prepared than the Jamaican Government when the shift occurs.

Halal tourism is clearly a growing market segment, with Muslim tourists seeking destinations which meet their needs, in terms of diet, dress or rituals. Translated from Arabic, ‘halal’ means permissible in accordance with Islamic teaching. Alcohol, pork, nudity and gambling are off limits.

“We have certain constraints that is placed on those, to make them halal family friendly activities. There are lots of hotel chains in Jamaica that are couples only. A halal tourism product would be family oriented with halal games and prayer areas,” Gillett-Chambers told the audience, though he said hotels can be halal-friendly or halal, and outlined their is a distinction.

“In Muslim majority countries, there may be a lot of tourism products that are classified as 100 per cent halal tourism. Those facilities may have prayer facilities there. But you may have a lower hanging fruit that we may seek to actually reach here in Jamaica, which is halal-friendly tourism, where we may not be announcing the Adhan (the Muslim call to prayer) in the hotel, but we may actually have an area that is designated for Muslim visitors to pray.”

He said he may require separate pools and spas for men and women and halal tours and transport, which would consider the type of music played in the buses and that transport operators would behave in an ethical way while on the road and not “zigzagging in and out of traffic.”

While the global Muslim community is concentrated in the Pacific region, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, the projection is that North America’s Muslim population will reach 197 million by 2050, accounting for 26 per cent of the continent’s population. With Jamaica getting over 70 per cent of tourists from the area, he said its an opportunity that Jamaica needs to explore in providing halal-friendly and 100 per cent halal tourism offerings.

Pointing to the MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI), which is the first most comprehensive research that has ever been released on the Muslim travel market and uses in-depth data to explain how Muslim travel is impacting the worldwide travel market, Gillett-Chambers beckons for Jamaica to join the number of non-Muslim countries that are actually embracing halal tourism, which is taking off in a big way.

“So the norm that is out there where people are thinking that Muslims like to be isolated and stuff, that’s not the case. We’re called to integrate, right? Where do we go from here? So essentially our short-stay accommodations, support services, experience, industry, information accessibility under accommodations overseas must direct investment by halal entities.”

He said to get halal tourists, even AirBnB are changing how they advertise. Areas must have halal certification including restaurants and transportation and airport signage.

“It’s very important that as our visitors are coming through the airport, they’re seeing something that looks familiar to them. Experience industry, how can we benefit a small man. You can actually establish an experience and you can market that experience and have persons come and visit your experience that you’ve actually set up. You can piggyback on tours that meet requirements, time-bound arrangements for existing attractions like Dunn’s River Falls, conferences and seminars and information accessibility. Establish Internet-based information portal that provides access to Muslim facilities locally,” he concluded.