With high demand for tourism and huge spending, Muslim tourists are considered a source of high-end tourists. While many countries in the region such as Thailand, Singapore, etc. are trying to attract and welcome this type of tourist, Ho Chi Minh City still has many untapped potentials and strengths that can completely meet the “demanding” requirements of Muslim tourists.
Nguyen An Ninh Street (District 1) opposite the West Gate – Ben Thanh Market is an indispensable destination for Muslim tourists when visiting and traveling in Ho Chi Minh City. Because this is the only street that concentrates food stalls and sells Halal products – produced and processed in compliance with the principles and regulations of Islam.
Because they are only allowed to eat and use products and services with Halal certification, Muslim tourists have few options to experience the specialties, goods, tourism services, and cuisine of Ho Chi Minh City in particular and Vietnam in general. This makes them feel inconvenient when visiting and traveling and reduces the attractiveness of the destinations.
While on a combined student exchange and cultural exchange program at a university in Ho Chi Minh City, Aiz Asymal Bukhary Bin Kharul Izwan from Malaysia said that for him and the Muslim community, prayer is very important.
Although he enjoyed his time in Vietnam, this tourist shared that he felt uncomfortable when he could only enjoy food from one restaurant on Nguyen An Ninh Street without many choices. In addition, the hotel where he stayed did not have a prayer area.
“I stayed in Ho Chi Minh City for 4 days but only ate at this restaurant so we did not have many choices. Halal food is a bit hard to find here so we need to be careful when choosing food. This is a bit inconvenient and time-consuming. In case we cannot find Halal food or a place to pray, we are forced to move to where the Muslim community lives. Therefore, I think it would be inconvenient to travel because it takes a lot of time sitting in the car, instead of having more time to relax and visit around the city” – said a Muslim tourist from Malaysia.
As for Ms. Izzaty – another tourist also from Malaysia – she said that she and her group of friends did not have any difficulty in finding a private space to pray every day. Because right in the center of Ho Chi Minh City, there are many mosques and she can completely ask a tour guide to show her the way when she needs to pray. Ms. Izzaty said: “We almost have to eat at the same restaurant and buying Halal-certified food is a bit expensive. We hope that there will be more Halal food here, especially street food so that we can enjoy delicious Vietnamese dishes. As for praying, we have a tour guide, they will take us to the mosques when we want to pray. Therefore, we can go to most of the places we want to go, it is not that difficult”.
“Gold mine” of the tourism industry
With such “difficult” requirements and standards, Halal tourism, also known as Muslim-friendly tourism, is becoming an increasingly popular trend globally. This tourist source market is considered to have a lot of potential and is high-class, especially visitors from the Middle Eastern Gulf countries.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hang, representative of the Halal Certification Office – HCA Vietnam, said that currently the Muslim community accounts for 1/4 of the world’s population. In Southeast Asia alone, more than 42% of the population is Muslim.
According to Ms. Hang, Muslims have many holidays during the year, along with the long hot weather, so they have a great demand for travel. In addition, customers from this market also have the habit of spending “hugely” as long as the services they use and experience comply with the regulations and principles of Islam.
“It is true that Halal tourism has a lot of potential. Because Muslim tourists often travel for long periods of time and they often travel in groups and families, not individually. When a Muslim man travels, he will bring his wife and children along, usually they have quite long trips. However, we still do not fully understand the Halal standards of the Muslim community to be able to create Halal standard tours” – Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hang added.
Also according to the representative of the Halal Certification Office – HCA Vietnam, the Muslim countries in the Gulf of GCC mainly have to import food. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s Halal-certified agricultural and seafood products are very popular in this market.
Therefore, this is not only a “gold mine” for the tourism industry, but also an opportunity for our country’s products to participate deeply in the global Halal supply chain when the Islamic tourism industry is focused on developing.
Great potential still untapped
Seeing the potential of Muslim tourists, some travel agencies in Ho Chi Minh City such as Halal Academy & Tourism Vietnam Co., Ltd. have pioneered in exploiting this market. On average, each month, this agency welcomes and serves 3-4 Halal tourist groups, mainly from countries in the region such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei.
Mr. Abdullah Abdulrahman, the owner of this travel agency, assessed that Ho Chi Minh City has a lot of potential to develop Muslim-friendly tourism compared to other localities in the country. Accordingly, Ho Chi Minh City has 10 mosques, 19 prayer points (Surau) and is the place where the largest number of Cham Muslims live in the country, along with a modern accommodation infrastructure system, a chain of Halal-standard restaurants, attractive tourist attractions and shopping centers and large, famous traditional markets, etc.
From the initial business performance, the representative of Halal Academy & Tourism Vietnam Co., Ltd. affirmed that Ho Chi Minh City can basically attract and meet the “demanding” requirements of this type of tourist from Southeast Asian countries. However, Mr. Abdullah Abdulrahman regretted that the infrastructure and conditions of Ho Chi Minh City still cannot meet the standards and are attractive enough for larger groups of tourists in the higher-end segment.
Specifically, according to Mr. Abdullah Abdulrahman, Ho Chi Minh City still has a limited number of Halal-standard restaurants, so it can only meet the needs of ordinary Muslim tourists and small groups. For MICE tourists (tourism combined with events, conferences, seminars) with a large number of visitors, Halal-certified restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City are not enough to accommodate. Or the Muslim tourists from the United Arab Emirates – very high-class, requiring hotels and restaurants of 5 stars or higher and meeting Halal standards to meet their needs.
Agreeing with the opinion that Ho Chi Minh City tourism has many advantages to attract this “difficult” type of customer such as: many direct flights, convenient connection to tourist destinations, stable political situation, friendly people and delicious, rich cuisine… However, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Suong, General Director of Hai Au Can Tho Hotel and Tourism Restaurant Company (HaiAu Tourist) said that Muslim tourists are not only interested in famous destinations, but also have to meet the criteria of their religion. In particular, Halal food service or prayer space at accommodation facilities and tourist attractions are their top concerns. Because they have culture, the need to practice their beliefs, and pray 5 times a day at a fixed time.
For travel agencies, the biggest obstacle in designing tours for this specific tourist market is finding Halal food establishments or prayer places when leaving big cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Suong shared about HaiAu Tourist’s approach: “Dining conditions are really difficult for local people of the destination to meet the needs of guests. One way to overcome this is to create a cooking class activity – for guests to cook and enjoy their own food. At that time, the travel agency will prepare the ingredients (Halal food). And note that the kitchen and dining utensils for Muslim guests must be a separate set and cannot be shared with other guests. This is a method that can be applied when bringing Halal guests to localities that still have limited services that are friendly to them.”
Mr. Tran Van Tan Cuong, Director of Vietnam National Halal Company, said that to attract this potential stream of tourists, accommodation and tourist destinations need to have human resources trained in Halal-friendly standards. Currently, Vietnam National Halal Company is planning to negotiate with owners of tourist destinations and accommodation establishments on building Muslim-friendly services.
“Here, we also guide and train them on specific services such as arranging a part of the area for prayer and preparing Halal food sources. In order for these tourist accommodation locations to be confirmed and certified to have Muslim-friendly services,” said Mr. Tran Van Tan Cuong.
In fact, Ho Chi Minh City does not lack food sources to serve Muslim tourists as many major brands have had products participating in the global Halal supply chain for many years. Along with the advantages of tourism infrastructure, the social and residential conditions of Ho Chi Minh City can completely meet the “demanding” requirements of Muslim tourists. However, these strengths and potentials are still being left open and have not been “awakened” to develop to their full potential.
| According to the Global Muslim Index, last year, there were about 140 million Halal tourists (also known as Muslim-friendly tourists) traveling around the world. By 2028, this number is expected to reach about 230 million, spending up to 225 billion USD. |
Source: VOV
